CHRISTIANITY: An Invention by Romans – Part 4

GOSPELS, TYPOLOGY and the PROPHECIES

When Vespasian captured Roman throne through his army, he wanted to have the same divinity status as earlier Caesars because he came from a different dynasty. But, the process of deification was a very elaborate and complex process. Only Senate of Rome could declare Caesar as divine. Vespasian displayed great shrewdness in this matter. Already the noted Jew turned Roman scholar, Josephus, was writing Jewish history using the war accounts of Vespasian and the only Jewish literature available that was with Caesar. Josephus records that the Jewish history literature for references, was given to him by Titus.

Through his writings, Josephus declared that the messiah was not to come from Jews. Josephus interpreted the messiah prophecy of Jews to suit Vespasian. He interpreted that the messiah would come from Israel but would be a Roman. The rise of Vespasian as emperor from Palestine, was the coming of the messiah! Titus, son of Vespasian, presented the case of his father to the senate, emphasizing that his campaigns in Judea were divine and fulfilled the prophecies of gods. It was now, probably, that the Gospels were written.

Vespasian started his war against Judea with Galilee. It was here that Josephus was captured who later turned over to Romans. Josephus wrote most of the literature which forms the foundation of Christianity, as believed by innumerable scholars

To produce the Gospels, deep understanding of the Judaic literature was required. The Gospels would not just replace the literature of the old religion but, would appear as if ‘growing out of it’, resembling in style and manner. To achieve this effect, the Flavian writers used a technique, used in Judaic literature throughout- typology. It simply means, creating an image of the former, like a painting. They were written in Greek. When scholars compare the works of Josephus and the Gospels, side by side, both show parallel events and writings.

THE 40 YEARS SWITCH!

There are huge number of ‘predictions’ in Gospels supposed to have been written by Apostles like, John the Baptist, in ‘Book of Revelation or Revelation to John’ and others. It is a book of the New Testament that occupies central position in Christian eschatology. These ‘prophecies’ show uncanny exactness with the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple by Titus, written by the eyewitness, Josephus. The resemblance is so accurate that there can be just one conclusion- the writers of both was the same person! The second Temple was demolished by Titus, as ‘predicted’ decades before! What Josephus did was a simple time shift of ‘predictions’ as he was writing new literature for the Roman messiah. He ante-dated the ‘predictions’ by 40 years, to show that the predictions of Jesus in 30 CE, at the beginning of Jesus’s ministry, came true 40 years later! The Temple was razed by Titus in 70 CE, exactly 40 years later! Following are just few of those ‘predictions’ and accounts written by Josephus.

THE PROPHECIES

In the Gospel by Mathew it is written that Jesus prophesied both the destruction of the temple and Jerusalem; therefore, it is necessary to discuss both prophecies to clearly understand the events that happened 40 years later.

THE TEMPLE DESTRUCTION PROPHECY

“Jesus left the temple and was walking away when his disciples came up to him to call his attention to its buildings.

‘Do you see all these things?’ he asked. ‘I tell you the truth, not one stone here will be left on another; everyone will be thrown down'” (Matt.24:1-8 NIV).

An artistic depiction of breach of the Wall of Jerusalem and razing of the Temple. The Temple was completely destroyed “until not one stone remained atop another”! Fulfillment of Jesus’s prophecy

‘Eternal peace was within your reach and you turned it down,’ he wept, ‘and now it is too late. Your enemies will pile up earth against your walls and encircle you and close in on you, and crush you to the ground, and your children within you; your enemies will not leave one stone upon another- for you have rejected the opportunity God offered you.’ Then he entered the Temple and began to drive out the merchants from their stalls, saying to them, ‘The Scriptures declare, My Temple is a place of prayer; but you have turned it into a den of thieves'” (Lk.19:36-46 TLB).

John the Baptist is mentioned writing his prophecies in Apocalypse of John as following:

These are the four Gospels. It is important to note that they are “According to Mark”, “According to Matthew”, “According to Luke”! So, the writers are not the original witnesses to the events that were supposed to have happened in Jesus’s life

1. John’s Revelation– “And there were noises and thundering and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake, such a mighty and great earthquake as had not occurred since men were on the earth.” (16:18)JOSEPHUS- Wars of the Jews 4:4:5 “for there broke out a prodigious storm in the night, with the utmost violence, and very strong winds, with the largest showers of rain, with continued lightnings, terrible thunderings, and amazing concussions and bellowings of the earth, that was in an earthquake. These things were a manifest indication that some destruction was coming upon men.

It is an artistic depiction of Roman Catapults at work by Media Art 20. Catapults were used extensively by Romans in siege situations. They hailed massive stones or burning balls of cloth soaked in oil to inflict massive damage on their opponents. Titus used these to great effect in his war against Jews at Jerusalem.

2. John’s Revelation– “Now the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell” JOSEPHUS- Wars of the Jews 5:1:1 – “It so happened that the sedition at Jerusalem was revived, and parted into three factions”

3. John’s Revelation – “And great hail from heaven fell upon men, each hailstone about the weight of a talent.” (16:21)JOSEPHUS- Wars of the Jews 5:6:3 – “Now the stones that were cast (from the catapult) were of the weight of a talent, and were carried two furlongs and further. The blow they gave was no way to be sustained, not only by those that stood first in the way, but by those that were beyond them for a great space.

It is an artistic depiction of Roman Catapults at work. Catapults were used extensively by Romans in siege situations. They hailed massive stones or burning balls of cloth soaked in oil to inflict massive damage on their opponents. Titus used these to great effect in his war against Jews at Jerusalem

Three important events that happened in the war, which were fulfilling the prophecies, are the following. These events were ‘predicted’ in the Gospels!

1. There was siege of Galilee and its fall

2. JESUS- Your enemies will pile up earth against your walls and encircle you and close in on you

Artistic depiction of raising of the wall circumventing the wall of Jerusalem so that none could escape from inside and their supplies from outside would be cut off. It was a bloody war. Thousands of Jews were killed, taken prisoners and the entire city was razed to the ground and burnt. It was the biggest glorious moment in the campaigns by Titus. Vespasian constructed the Arch of Titus in Rome to celebrate his victory

Josephus- War of the Jews: Titus raised a wall around the Temple town of Jerusalem, which was as high as the city walls, all around its circumference3. JESUS- “not one stone here will be left on another; everyone will be thrown down”

Josephus-War of the Jews: The Second Temple of Jews in Jerusalem was demolished by Titus – “until not one stone remained atop another”! (see image)

The foundation literature of Christianity which led to the formation of Roman Catholic Church was written by Jewish intellectuals like Josephus, under the supervision of Flavian emperors, Vespasian, Titus and Domitian. An elaborate, but, a great intellectual enterprise indeed!

CHRISTIANITY: An Invention by Romans Part-3

The Collaborators & Sources of New Literature

1. Philo of Alexandria (25 BC – 47 CE)

It is known that Romans were funded at that time by one of the wealthiest families of the world, The Alexanders of Egypt. It was a Jewish family and they were the tax collectors for Romans in Egypt. Like the tax collectors, Herods in Judea, The Alexanders had also a strong motivation to keep the Jewish messianic movement under check for their own protection.

Philo of Alexandria wrote of a philosophy based on Jew history, Roman religion and Greek philosophies

One of their very famous family member, the brother of Alexander, was Philo, also known as Philo of Alexandria. He was a distinguished Jew theological scholar of his time. Philo was a very prominent person. He had led a Jewish delegation to the court of Emperor Caligula in 35-40 CE. He prominently lived in those times when Jesus Christ was supposed to be preaching, performing miracles, exorcising demons, causing earthquakes, raising the dead, wandering in the lands of Judea and talking to farmers and fishermen. Philo knew Judea and its people like nobody else. Just like Josephus half a century later, Philo wrote extensively on Jewish religion and contemporary politics. There are at least 30 manuscripts from him. Surprise and surprise! Although he mentions Moses more than a thousand times in his writings, THERE IS NOT A SINGLE WORD ABOUT JESUS, Christianity or any of the events described in the New Testament!!

What was Philo of Alexandria writing? He was writing the ancient history of Jewish religion but, with a Greek amalgamation. He took every concept of then Roman religion, infused them with Greek philosophies and then amalgamated that with Jewish religion. Thus, he wrote of a new religion which had elements of all three. His doctrine of ‘Logos’ is influenced by Greek philosophy. ‘Logos’, is an artisan like figure responsible for the creating, designing and maintenance of the physical universe. Many scholars believe that Philo’s works formed much of the philosophical basis of Christianity.

Works of Philo are available for further studies

2. Joseph Ben Matityahu or Titus Flavius Josephus (37 CE -?) Under the leadership of Vespasian, Romans launched their campaign to crush Jewish uprising. His first target was the city of Galilee. The leader of Jews in the region of Galilee was Josephus Ben Matityahu. He was also a priest at the Temple of Jerusalem. He was a renowned scholar of Jewish Law and literature. He put up some fight but was ultimately captured in Jotapata, after a siege of 47 days. Josephus was already well known as a Jew historian. He was brought before Vespasian after he had given orders not to harm him in any way. Vespasian wanted to send this distinguished Jew scholar to Nero. Josephus, in his own words, describes his audience with Vespasian (The Jewish War 3.8.9 399-408): (see image)

Hearing that he was to be sent to Nero, Josephus expressed a wish to speak with him alone. When therefore all were ordered to withdraw except his son Titus and two of their friends, he said, “O Vespasian, although you suppose you have taken captive a forsaken Josephus, I have come as a messenger of great tidings. Had I not been sent by God to you, I know the law of the Jews, and how it is fitting for generals to die. Do you send me to Nero? For what? Will any successors of Nero endure — until you? You are to be Caesar, O Vespasian, and Emperor, you, and this your son. Bind me now still more securely, and keep me for yourself, for thou, O Caesar, are not only lord over me, but over the land, and the sea, and all the human race; and certainly, I deserve to be punished by closer custody than now, if I fabricate anything concerning God”

The Campaign of Vespasian / Josephus in Galilee
The illustration shows Josephus brought before Vespasian, depicted as Emperor, after the prophecy has been fulfilled; Josephus’ chains are smashed to pieces by a worker to demonstrate he should never have been a prisoner. This woodcut is from an 18th-century edition
Josephus.org

When he had said this, Vespasian at that time did not believe him, supposing that Josephus came up with this as a cunning trick to save himself. But after a little while he came to have faith in this, for God was already raising in him thoughts of obtaining the Empire, and by other signs foreshadowing his advancement. (Josephus.org/FlJosephus2/warChronology5.htm)Afterwards General Vespasian left for Rome with his legions. While in Rome, Vespasian was appointed Emperor in 69 CE. Josephus’s prophecy came true. As a reward, he was taken into his family by Caesar Vespasian and was given his family name, Flavius. He now became ‘Titus Flavius Josephus’. He became a citizen of Rome. He started living in an accommodation within the palace compounds. Jews always hated him for his treachery. Josephus had read the writings of Philo of Alexandria who lived much earlier and was well versed in them. This literature was also available with Alexanders family.

Golden palace of Nero which was later occupied by Caesar Flavius Vespasian and after him by Titus. Josephus was given accommodation within the compound by Vespasian as he started to write new literature.

Herods, Alexanders and Flavian Caesars were connected through marriages, wealth and power. An interesting character, Princess Berenice, multi-married granddaughter of Herod the Great, having incestuous relationship with her brother, had linkages with all three. She finds mention in New Testament too! More about her, later.

Princess Berenice, daughter of Herod

During their campaigns, first Vespasian, then Titus, very meticulously and thoroughly destroyed all existing Jewish literature. The Flavians had exercised very strict control over Jewish literature because the entire Messianic movement was directed by their history. Every single text or book of history available anywhere, was destroyed. The writers of those histories were rounded up and executed. Every book was destroyed except, one! The original Jewish history books kept in the Temple of Jerusalem. This literature was carried by Titus to Rome and was kept in the personal palace of Caesar. Nobody had access to it. Only Josephus was allowed access to this copy of Jewish history. Philo’s work survived only because it had a mix narrative of Greek, pre-Christian Roman religion and Jewish religion. His works were very handy to Josephus.

Vespasian then commissioned Josephus to write a history of Jewish-Roman War from a Roman perspective. He wrote The Jewish War and Antiquities of the Jews. Antiquities of Jews is the second most widely read and researched book in the world after Bible! Every alternative history was destroyed by Romans. The only history available today is the one written by Josephus.

War of the Jews

It is surprising that great many scriptures and writings started appearing in this time relating to the cult of messiah Jesus Christ like- New Testament, Gospels, new Jewish history and religion, that it raises strong suspicion of Roman influence and involvement in writing scriptures which served their purpose of raising a new type of religion, partly based on Greek, Roman and Jewish theology but, which was anti Jew but, pro-Roman.

Question by a Jew: Is it right for Jews to pay taxes to Caesar? Answer by peaceful messiah, Jesus: “Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s”.

Puzzling statement by ‘peaceful Messiah’ Jesus

This answer has raised great controversy among scholars as to the reasons behind it.

CHRISTIANITY: An Invention by Romans! Part-2

Why Romans Wanted to Create the Legend of Peaceful Messiah, Jesus Christ?

Visit to Rome: Colosseum or Flavian Amphitheatre

The key to understanding that Jesus Christ was a creation, lies in the Dead Sea Scrolls. They were written in the period when Jesus was supposed to be living and preaching among Jews, spreading his message to farmers and fishermen. Such a widespread and powerful movement, as we see today, should have found detailed mention in them. Dead Sea Scrolls are the ONLY Jewish literature ever discovered from olden times. They give an unprecedented detailed account of the people and the Jew society at that time. The people in the Scrolls were militants, fundamentalists and fighter like. They were not peaceful. In NONE of the Dead Sea Scrolls, which have been thoroughly studied, there is EVEN ONE MENTION OF ‘JESUS CHRIST’ the peaceful messiah anywhere! How could a movement like Christianity, develop in a region which was occupied by Roman soldiers everywhere and militant Jews were waging constant struggle to push them out? It must be remembered that Romans were ruthless people. They would crush rebellions in their territories with a very heavy hand and great force. Their fighting legions were legends. You may read about Dead Sea Scrolls in detail, at this link http://www.deadseascrolls.org.il/home .

The Dead Sea Scrolls being studied in Israel. They have been studied in great detail.

At the time of Nero, the Roman empire had undergone decadence and bankruptcy. Roman senate revolted against him. Nero fled and committed suicide. In this turbulent period, General Vespasian who was leading an assault to crush Jewish rebellion in Judea, was recalled to Rome. There, Flavius Vespasian was appointed emperor. Flavian dynasty had a remarkable rule and they altered the course of Roman history like no one before. The Colosseum of Rome was built by Caesar Vespasian and the Arch of Titus, in commemoration of Titus’ victory over Jews, are testimonies to the power of Flavian Dynasty.

Arch of Titus made by Emperor Vespasian to commemorate victory of Titus over Judea

Murals on the inside of the Arch of Titus

Ever since the occupation of Judea by Romans, Jews of Judea were constantly rebelling against Romans. There never was a period of peace and tranquility. Judea was one of the many conquered provinces that made up Roman Empire. This region, also known as Palestine, was controlled by a family of tax collectors known as The Herod. Prominent among them was King Herod The Great. But, that is another story. Herod were a Greco-Arab family maybe partly Judean, who exterminated the previous Judean family and gained power.

Herod imposed heavy taxes on Jews which led to many ‘tax-revolts’. Besides tax woes, Jews had serious religious issues with Romans. During Julio-Claudian dynastic rule, Caesar was regarded as a divine figure in Rome. Caesar’s statue was placed in every Roman temple beside the statues of Roman gods. As a divine figure, Caesar was worshipped as a deity, beside other Roman gods. Romans installed statues of Caesar in Jewish temples as well and expected Jews to worship him as well. This caused great resentment among Jews and everywhere in Judea there were protests. Jews do not worship any representation of God. Their religion is more of The Book, than gods’ statues. That is why they are known as ‘people of the book’. Jews constantly looked for a messiah who would deliver them from Roman occupation. That was the Prophecy of the Book.

There was an ages old firm belief among Jews about the ‘coming of a Messiah’. In Jewish eschatology, as mentioned in Old Testament, the term ‘Messiah’ came to refer to a future Jewish king from the line of David, who would be “anointed” with ‘holy anointing oil’, to be king of God’s kingdom, that is, the land of Jews and would rule the Jewish people during the ‘Messianic Age’. It is important to note that the future messiah was to be from David’s lineage.

The depiction of battle between David and Goliath.

In Judaism, the Messiah or Christ (a title) is not considered to be God or a pre-existent divine ‘Son of God’. He is a great political leader that has descended from King David. That is why he is referred to as Messiah ben David, which means “Messiah, son of David”. The messiah, in Judaism, is a great, charismatic leader who is well oriented with the laws that are followed in Judaism. To emphasize again, the Messiah was to have THE CHARACTERISTICS OF A WARRIOR and attributes like David who could defeat any enemy because, as per legend, God gave him the power to defeat his enemies. If a Messiah had the power of God, he could easily defeat the Roman army. Judea witnessed a Messiah movement and many came forward claiming to be the Messiah to fight the Roman army. The Hebrew version of Messiah is translated as Kristos or Christ. So, the title of Christ could represent any Messiah of this movement. However, they were all killed one by one but, they kept coming. The Messianic movement is a very important chapter in Jewish history. The warrior messiah of the Jews had to be countered by Romans to quell Jewish unrest and revolts. Romans were firm on it. Romans were looking for a strategy to counter this Warrior Messianic Prophecy.

David being ‘anointed’ as Messiah, with oil by Samuel. This is the way a Messiah, the liberator, was recognized in Jew traditions.

The Romans’ masterstroke came in the creation of a ‘PEACEFUL MESSIAH’ of New Testament contrary to a ‘WARRIOR MESSIAH’ of Old Testament! The ‘peaceful messiah’ was to be peace loving. He would be pacifist. He would perform ‘miracles’ to cure the illnesses but, most important, he would be against Jews but favorable to Romans. He would ‘give to Romans what was due to Romans’.The Roman ‘peaceful messiah’ WOULD FULFILL THE BIBLICAL PROPHECY! And Romans were helped in this historical game changing creation by none other than Titus Flavius Josephus!

Thus, JESOUS CHRISTOS or Jesus Christ came into being!

The Flavian dynasty created the cult of Christianity. And they left us documents to prove it!

The Jewish Roman historian, Josephus played a major role in composing and writing the literature surrounding the character of Jesus Christ. In the next blog, we will examine the evidences created by Josephus to validate the Roman creation of Jesus Christ.

CHRISTIANITY: An Invention by Romans! Part-1

 

Is there really any history to the character, Jesus Christ? Where did he come from?

For sixteen hundred years, Roman Catholic Church has ruled Europe and other continents, controlled societies, influenced thoughts, waged wars, inflicted untold tortures and brutalities, amassed vast fortunes and converted millions of people around the world to a religious dogma, the religion of Christ. Was it all based on stories fabricated by Roman Caesars? The idea of the post is not to hurt anybody’s feelings but, to analyze objectively and academically, what innumerable scholars around the world also believe, that the myth of Jesus Christ was created by Romans to control societies and deify Caesars themselves.

Christianity is built around the central figure, Jesus Christ. Was Jesus Christ real? Most scholars agree that Jesus as a human being never existed. Jesus cannot be historically defended. There never was a person like this. While investigating the story of Jesus and that of Christ of faith, it is impossible to find any history for such a person. There are no archaeological findings of discovery of Jesus. All that we find are literary constructs, meaning, made up stories! There isn’t even an actual physical description of what Jesus looked like anywhere in the Gospels. When we talk of Jesus Christ, we are talking of literature. There is no history in it. It is important to note that Christianity was centered in Rome. Gospels were written in Rome and the Catholic Church was founded in Rome. First Pope and first Christian Saints were all Romans. The only Jewish ancient literature ever found were the Dead Sea Scrolls in 1947 from Qumran caves. There is no mention of Jesus Christ in them, anywhere! Dead Sea Scrolls describe Jewish people who were at war.

In the legend of Jesus Christ, there are two involved parties- Judeans (Jews) who lived in Judea and some other places in the Roman empire and the Romans who wielded power of The Roman Empire. It is important to note that the languages spoken in Galilee and Judea during the first century (the period of Jesus Christ) were mainly Aramaic and Semitic Hebrew. However, because of the Roman influence, Greek was also a spoken language in some parts of the region. Ancient Jewish literature is in Hebrew with some in Aramaic. Most scholars agree that during the early part of first century, Aramaic was the mother tongue of virtually all natives of Galilee and Judea. On the other hand, Greek and Latin were the dominant languages of Roman Empire.

The mystery of Jesus Christ begins in the very name.

The name Jesus is derived from the Latin (Romans’ language) LESUS, which is a transliteration of Greek, ‘Lesous’. Whereas Christ is derived from Greek word CHRISTOS meaning, the ‘anointed one’ or ‘Messiah’. It is just a title.

JESUS (Lesus) = SAVIOR
CHRIST = CHRISTOS = MESSIAH

These two words were already important and common in Judaism even before the life of so called, ‘Jesus Christ’. There is strong belief among Jews of a Messiah, as mentioned in Old Testament, who would come as a redeemer and liberator, that the Messiah would be ‘A Warrior’, a ‘World Ruler’, who would come out of Jerusalem, have the power of God and defeat Romans. An important Biblical figure like King David was already called – Christ, a Messiah! It is not a unique name of a single person which suddenly came up.

During Jewish Roman wars, many people came forward to claim being ‘a Messiah’ which led to the Messianic movement of resistance to Roman rule. When one was killed, another would come forward to lead the Jews in war. Messiahs were WARRIORS! So, how did the peace loving, pacifist Messiah, ‘Jesus Christ’ come into being at the time of widespread turmoil in Judea?

To understand this Christianity construct, there are some very important personalities, regions, events and wars which are central to the period of supposed existence of Jesus, that is 1 CE or 4 BC – 33 CE. Jesus’s ministry lasted for three years, that is from 30 CE to 33 CE. Following need to be examined in detail to understand why Jesus Christ as a person never existed.

1. Juleo-Claudian Roman dynasty which normally refers to the first five Roman Emperors: Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius and Nero.
   2. The Flavian Dynasty of Caesar Vespasian and his sons, particularly Titus.
   3. Josephus, born Joseph ben Matityahu, a Jew who later became Titus Flavius Josephus, a Roman. He was a Jewish Roman historian of great talent and scholarship but, a leader of Jews in war earlier.
   4. The Testimonium Flavianum or Testimony of Flavius Josephus
   5. The Messianic prophecies by Josephus
   6. Roman Judea in the early first century
   7. Herods & Alexanders
   8. First Jewish Roman War
   9. Dead Sea Scrolls
   10. The writing of Gospels of Jesus Christ in Greek
   11. Religions in Rome before Jesus Christ particularly the worship of Sun-god Mithras
   12. Jesus Christ as Sun-god
   13. Egyptian Book of Dead and The New Testament
   14. Others

Next time we will examine these important issues, one by one, to understand the story of creation of Jesus Christ.

The source of the material used in this blog is from the works of the following scholars:
• Dr Rod Blackhirst, Lecturer in Religious Studies, La Trobe University, Australia.
• Timothy Freke Co-Author of “The Jesus Mysteries” and “Jesus of the Lost Goddess”
• DM Murdock /Acharya S, Mythicist and Author “The Christ Conspiracy”
• John Hudson, Literary Analyst and Author “Goodbye Jesus”
• Kenneth Humphreys, Historian and Author of “Jesus Never Existed”
• Prof. Robert Eisenman, CSULB, Author of “James the Brother of Jesus” and “The New Testament Code”

From Vedic Mitra (मित्र) to Persian/Roman Sun God Mithra to Christian Sun god Jesus Christ – Part 2

Picture above: Face of Mithra or Jesus Christ or Alexander of Greece?

Picture: A beautifully carved sculpture of Mithra in the Hall of Animals at Vatican Museum. Pictures clicked by me during my visit in 2017. What a place they chose to put Mithra sculpture in!

Picture: Mithra tauroctomy sculpture in British Museum. He is shown wearing a Phrygian cap.

Picture: Sol Invictus (the Unconquered Sun) in Greek attire

Greeks have always been very good at giving a great face and body to their gods and figures. Their imaginations gave a persona to their gods that evoked power, grace, super strength and perfect proportions. The garments of gods were also typical Greek. The God Mithras was also given a face by Greeks, which some scholars say, resembles Alexander from his early days. Seeing the face, it does seem to resemble the Greek warrior. On the other hand, many Christian scholars say that the face resembles Christ! Christian scholars deliberately look away from the unpalatable truth that Mithras was the prevailing Sun-god before the advent of Christian Sun-god, Jesus Christ.

 

Pictures: Mithra Sun god surrounded with a Zodiac and Solar related activities and symbolism

The most striking and common image of Mithra is that of ‘slaying’ of a Bull. But, it is a very simplistic and incorrect interpretation of a complex picture/statue which has so many components forming the whole. There is a bull who has been brought to its knees by God Mithras, digging a dagger in his shoulder, a snake, a dog and a scorpion are also attacking the bull. The scene is surrounded by the twelve signs of Zodiac. Obviously, the Mithras form most commonly worshipped, is a cosmic representation of Sun god Mithras, going across the sky traversing all zodiac positions. The Bull or Taurus is the most important animal in agriculture around the world. In some pictures or statues this scene also displays people holding agriculture produce and two persons standing on either side of Bull, holding flaming torches, one pointing upward and the other pointing downwards, seeming to show rising of sun and the sun setting at the end of the day.

MITHRAEUM

A temple of Mithras is known as Mithraeum. Archaeology has discovered more than 400 Mithraeums in widely scattered locations throughout the Roman empire, from East to West and North to South. The map gives a widespread location of Mithras temples through the Roman Empire in the first three centuries.

Picture: More than 400 Mithra temples have been discovered spread in the entire Roman Empire.

In 1954, during a building’s construction in Walbrook, a street in the City of London, a Temple of Mithras was discovered which is now known as, The London Mithraeum. During excavation, many artefacts were discovered which were later housed in the local museum. One find was a head of Mithras. When Christian scholars saw the head, they couldn’t believe their eyes. They were seeing the head of Christ!

Picture: London Mithreum and the recovered ‘head’ of Mithras from the site

In Rome, under many Catholic Churches, temples of Mithras exist even today. These Churches were obviously constructed on top of the Mithas temples.

Pictures: Most famous Christian Church, the Basilica of Saint Clemente (Basilica de San Clemente) has a large Mithra temple under it.

 

 

Picture: Santa Maria Capua Vetere in Italy carries a Mithras temple underneath.

 

Pictures: There is a Temple of Mithras near Carrawburgh Roman Fort on Hadrian’s Wall in UK.

Picture: A temple of Mithas at Ostia Antica Rome, also called the Mithraeum of the Seven Spheres, seems to have been excavated for the first time by Petrini, in the years 1802-1804.

 

Picture: A Mithraeum located at the far west of Roman empire in Dura-Europos, also spelled Dura-Europus. It was a Hellenistic, Parthian and Roman border city built on 90 meters (300 feet) above the right bank of the Euphrates river, on an elevated area. It is located near the village of Salhiyé, in today’s Syria.

There are vast number of them scattered throughout Rome and other cities of Roman empire. It is obvious that there was a concerted campaign towards destruction of Mithras religion and its temples when Christianity came into power and state control. Christians constructed their churches over them. It is similar to what happened in India, where so many Hindu temples were destroyed or converted to mosques by Muslim rulers. Foundations of those Hindu temples exist under the superimposed mosques.

The temples of Sun God Mithras and worship in his religion of Seven Spheres (seven steps of progression on path of righteousness) continued until the rule of Emperor Constantine. In 325AD, Constantine held the Council of Nicaea. The Creed of Nicaea or the Nicene Creed was promulgated and adopted. Christianity was declared the official religion of Rome. An official alliance between Church and Empire came into being. A politico-religious Roman Catholic Church was established and came to wield unprecedented state power and military influence. A rapid decline of the religion of Mithras followed. Roman Catholic Church launched a virtual cultural and religious genocide of Mithras religion and its followers.

On the ruins of Mithras emerged the Christian Sun god, Jesus Christ.

Charles Francois Dupuis (1742-1809): In The Origin of All Religious Worship, Dupuis states: “Let us well bear in mind here, what we have proved in another place, that Christ has all the characteristics of the God Sun in his birth, or in his incarnation in the womb of a virgin, and that this birth arrives just at the same moment, when the ancients celebrated that of the Sun or of Mithras… The actual question now is, to show, that he has also the characteristics of the God Sun in his resurrection…” (Dupuis, 243)

Dupuis calls Christians “those worshipers of the Sun under the name of Christ”

Picture: Christ in the center of the Zodiac. Image of the 11th Century Northern Italy (from the book “The Hermetic Museum: Alchemy and Mysticism”)

Picture: Jesus as the Sun god throughout history. Illuminated manuscript featuring Jesus as sun.

 

Picture: Sun worship. With Sun god in her arms and the Greek Sun god Apollo carved on the temple of Apollo

Far from being a “modern” conspiracy of atheists or internet scholars, the nature of Christ as Sun-god coming from pre-Christian traditions, rituals, architecture and artifacts, was obvious to even Church fathers.

Picture: Pope Francis Sun worship – Roman Catholic Eucharist

Jesus Christ is considered a real historical person by Christians. He appeared suddenly in 30 AD and his ministry lasted only three years, until 33 AD. He was crucified, ‘resurrected’ and then he disappeared from history. Just three years! Nobody knew him before 30 AD.

It is important for Christians to ask themselves, as Acharya S in ‘The Christ Conspiracy: The Greatest Story Ever Sold’, asks –‘ Is it more scientifically plausible that 2,000 years ago the God of the cosmos took birth through the womb of a virgin as a Jewish man who walked on water, performed miracles, raised the dead, resurrected himself from death and ascended into heaven – or could it be that this tale is a reworking of older myths in currency around the known world of the time?’

 

Acknowledgements:

• Kenneth Humphreys: Jesus Never Existed
• Joseph Atwill: Caesar’s Messiah
• British Museum Hadron’s gallery
• Seema Anand, How Mitra became Mithras
• Acharya S, The Christ Conspiracy: The Greatest Story Ever Sold

Roman/Persian Sun God Mithras or Vedic Mitra (मित्र) – Part 1

The latter half of first century saw the advent of Christianity in Rome which was already a city of several ancient religions and traditions. After a few centuries of ‘early Christianity’, the Sun god or the Son of God, Jesus Christ emerged as the principal god of Roman empire, replacing Roman Sun god, Mithras.

The most followed and prevalent religion of Rome then, was that of Sun god ‘MITRA’. The name ‘Mithras’ is an English distortion. In Greek, which was the spoken language of Rome, it is pronounced as ‘Mitra’ (मित्र) and written as- Μίθρα. Mithras was an ancient Persian God who came to Rome and to all regions of Roman empire from Persia.

Who was this Sun God MITHRA or MITRA? What is the origin of Sun God Mitra?

VEDIC ORIGIN OF ‘MITRA’ 

Sun worship, in one form or the other, is an integral part of Indian culture since ancient times. The word ‘mitra’ / मित्र, is a Sanskrit word which means ‘Sun’ or सूर्य. The other meaning is, ‘friend’ which of course would mean Sun only, as ‘He is a friend of all life on earth’.

In Vedic times, Mitra was not a deity with a face. Mitra is the manifest light property of Brahm which has its effect on all life on earth. Mitra and Varun, like Indra and Agni are different qualities of same cosmic force as mentioned in the following ‘shlok’. They are two of the twelve ‘adityas’ (आदित्य- the energy manifestations of Parmatma). –

इन्द्रं मित्रं वरुणमग्निमाहुरथो दिव्य: स सुपर्णो गरुत्मान् ।

Indram Mitram Varunam Agnim Aahuratho Divyah S Suparno Garutman I

एकं  सद्  विप्रा बहुधा वदन्त्यग्नि यमं मातरिश्वानमाहु: ।

Ekam Sad Vipra Bahudha Vadantya Agni Yamam Matrishwanmahuh I

 

The following ‘shlok’ from Rig Veda also invokes Mitra and Varun: There are many such ‘shlokas’ in Rig Ved.

ऒम शं नो मित्रा च वरुणा :

Aum Shanno Mitra Ch Varunah :

Aum, O ‘Aditya’ Mitra (rising sun, bringing light of dawn) and Varun (the life-giving water element), be happy with us and always stay with us!

In Rigveda, Mitra and Varuna are always together and are invoked in Yagya and prayers. In later Purana (पुराण) age, Mitra and Varuna like every other ‘aditya’ was given a face and form perhaps, for meditation. In time, sculptures of respective Adityas and deities made their appearance. Below is a sculpture of god Mitra from India, in the Hotham gallery of British Museum, holding blooming lotus in each hand. Blooming lotus is a sign of the ‘rising sun’.

MITRA and VARUN are integral parts of Vedic hymns (श्लोक) and objects of meditation of ancient Indian civilization.

PERSIAN WORSHIP OF MITRA

There were two main empires at the time when Christianity was created by Roman Caesars, Flavius Titus, Domitian, Jew scholar Josephus and others – the Roman Empire and Persian Empire. Of the two, Persian Empire was older and there was widespread social and cultural interaction between Eastern Roman regions and Persia. The religious beliefs of Persians found their extension and acceptance among the Romans. Below is Mitra Sun-god carving in Persian attire.

Persian Zoroastrian religion was founded by Zarathustra in the sixth century BCE. However, in the pre-Zoroastrian period the principal god of Iranians was ‘Mitra’ the god of Light, the ‘Rising Sun’. Its immense importance in their society can be understood from the fact that treaties between tribes or kingdoms were established with Sun god Mitra as a witness! The same ancient culture and traditions were taken by Zarathustra when he established the Zoroastrian religion. The name Zarathustra means- “Rising Sun” or “Sunrise aspect” (aspect means, tattva in Sanskrit) There is a very interesting etymology of name Zarathustra. Sanskrit root “sh” becomes Persian “z”. If we were to write Zarathustra in Sanskrit, it would become – Shara-tu- Sutra (शरतु-स्त्र), the Sun Sutra (principal). The entire imagery is related to Sun worship as Sun god. The image of Zoroaster is shown as a ‘Winged Sun’ flying in human form (see the picture).

There is great commonality in ancient Vedic thoughts and Persian traditions. The oldest holy books of Ancient Zoroastrian religion were written in old Avestan or Gathic (गाथिक) Persian. Kriwaczek, who has written books on Zoroastrians, states that Gathic Persian and Vedic Sanskrit are so closely related that they are “little more than the dialects of one tongue.” Avestan is written RIGHT to LEFT, just as Sanskrit. Zarathustra composed his sacred hymns (‘shlokas’) in Avestan and founded his religion, deriving its principals from Vedic tenets. Much of the information on Zarathustra comes from his autobiographical ‘Gathas’ (गाथा) which are ‘hymns’ or ‘shlokas’.

Zoroastrian Religious Texts

The religious texts of the Zoroastrian faith of ancient Persia are referred to as the “Avesta.” The oldest part is the Gathas, which includes a collection of hymns and one of the oldest examples of religious poetry attributed to the prophet Zoroaster (ca. 630–550 BCE). Displayed is a page from the Gathas, in the Middle Persian language Pahlavi, and its translation into modern Persian. The Faravahar, a man and a winged disc that symbolizes the Zoroastrian faith adorns the opening of the page. The Zoroastrian faith has survived from ancient times with followers worldwide, mainly in Iran and India. The Zoroastrians who settled in India more than one thousand years ago, referred to as the Parsi (Persian) community, are very influential in Indian society today.

below is a page of ‘gatha’

Persians trace their origins from ‘Hepta Hindu’ which is same as ‘Sapta Sindhu’ in Sanskrit. ‘S’ of Sanskrit is pronounced as ‘H’ in Persian. This also alludes to the common origin of Vedic and ancient Persian civilizations from the common region of Sapta-Sindhu / सप्त सिन्धु, the land of the Seven Rivers.

Old Persian language of Zoroastrian times is also known as old Avestan or Gathic. There are many similarities between Avesta, Avestan and Rig-Veda. The highly evolved and structured Sanskrit of Vedas is the likely source of Avesta language. Just as in the Rigveda, Mitra is indistinguishable from Varun, together forming a pair, Mitra-Varuna, similarly in Zoroastrian religion, ‘Mitra-Varuna’ hold prime importance.

Seeing that Iranians believe their ancient origin is from the same area of Sapta-Sindhu (सप्त-सिन्धु)/Hepta-Hindu, where the Vedic culture prospered, it is no wonder that Mitra and Varun are the most revered deities of old Persian religion. In Zoroastrian religion, Mitra and Varuna are the principal elements of worship. In both, Vedic culture and Zoroastrianism, Mitra is the ‘Rising Sun’ who brings the light of dawn! It is an interesting subject and needs to be dealt with separately in a more comprehensive way. However, the Vedic origins of sun god Mitra, are indisputable.

The interactions of Roman soldiers, traders and public with Persians carried the Persians’ ways of worship and gods to Greeks and Romans. Mithraism spread to every part of Roman empire through these social and military interactions with Persians. In the Greco-Roman world Mitra or Mithra was called “the divine Sun, the ‘Unconquered Sun’ (Sol Invictus). He was said to be “Mighty in strength, mighty ruler, greatest King of gods! O Sun, lord of heaven and earth, God of Gods!” Initially Sol-Invictus was a separate Sun God of Romans who later got merged into Mithras and the latter came to represent both.

The above picture is an important one. This picture is of Mithreum located below the Basilica of St Clemente in old Roman area, close to Colosseum. The sculpture at extreme back is of Sun god Mitra, rising out of a blooming lotus. It is a very significant archaeological and historical evidence of Sun god Mithra having its origin from Vedic ‘Mitra’! The one in front is the most common sculpture of Mithra performing ‘tauroctomy’, found from many Mithra temples all over the Roman empire.

Many scholars from the Persian and Roman times have described Mithra as the god who was the most important deity and was worshiped not just by Persians but also by Greeks and Romans. Greek warrior, Alexander the Great, also asked his conquered prisoners of Persia to swear allegiance to him by invoking ‘Mitra’.

Some of the famous names from Roman sources who have written about Mithra are – Statius (80AD), Justin Martys (150 AD), Tertullian (200AD), Origen (200-254 AD), Porphyry (270 AD), Commodian (3^rd C AD) and many others.

 

ALAUDDIN KHILJI (1250-1316) – the Jihadi Barbarian Killer, Rapist & Homosexual

The Hero of Sanjay Leela Bhansali, Alauddin Khilji, was the son of Shahabuddin Masud, elder brother of Jalaluddin, the founder of Khilji dynasty. He was thus a nephew and later, after marriage with his daughter, the son-in-law of Jalaluddin. Alauddin was appointed as Amir-i-Tuzuk (Master of Ceremonies) after marriage. Alauddin’s brother Almas Beg also married a daughter of Jalaluddin. Alauddin was not happy in his marriage and later married another woman, named Mahru.

In 1291, he was appointed governor of Kara after he crushed a revolt there by the previous governor Malik Chajju. The advisors of Malik Chajju who now switched sides, instigated and convinced Alauddin to depose Jalaluddin as he was perceived a weak ruler. To finance his revolt, Alauddin raided the neighboring Hindu kingdoms. He usurped huge wealth from the rich kingdom of Bhilsa in Malwa. At Bhilsa he came to know of the very rich Yadav kingdom of Deccan area, Devgiri. After few years of planning and preparations, he successfully raided Devagiri and plundered vast wealth that included jewels, gold, silk products, elephants, horses and of course, slaves. His capture of slaves included men and women.

Alauddin returned to Kara. He sent a message to Jalaluddin to visit him at Kara and pardon him personally for not coming directly to Delhi after his Devagiri campaign. Jalaluddin had blind faith in Alauddin because he had brought him up after the death of his father, had given his daughter in marriage to him and had bestowed all the riches and power upon him. Jalaluddin came to meet him.

While greeting Jalaluddin, Alauddin killed him and declared himself the new Sultan. Jalaluddin was beheaded and his head was pierced on a spear and paraded in his camp before it was sent to Awadh for public display. This barbaric treatment of Jalaluddin, his mentor and father figure, was as per his faith where killing by beheading of real or supposed rivals is considered an integral part. Sikhs faced similar fate at the hands of Aurangzeb.

Picture: Heads of Sikhs were paraded by Aurangzeb’s soldiers when they refused to convert to Islam. Alauddin did the same to Jalaluddin after beheading him. This was the standard operating procedure of all Islamic kings of India.

Jalaluddin’s powerful nobles joined him and were rewarded with, as reported, 30 -50 mann (one mann = about 38 Kg) of gold each, which was looted by him from Devgiri. Jalaluddin’s widow Malika-i-Jahan, her son Qadr Khan and other family members escaped to Multan which was controlled by another of Jalaluddin’s sons, Arkali. In November 1296, Alauddin sent an army to conquer Multan. On his orders, commander Nusrat Khan arrested, blinded and/or killed the surviving members of Jalaluddin’s family.

Alauddin started the practice of killing of children in front of their mothers and public rape and killing of wives of revolting men in his kingdom. He set his own barbaric standards of punishment. In 1302-03, Alauddin led an army to conquer Chittor, the capital of Guhila kingdom ruled by Ratnasimha (Rawal Ratan Singh). It took him eight months of siege to overcome Chittor. According to Alauddin’s courtier Amir Khusro (the famous Persian poet), he ordered massacre of 30,000 local Hindus after his conquest. Later legends state that Alauddin was mad with lust to capture the beautiful wife of Ratnasimha, Padmavati to make her his sex slave and add her to his harem of thousands of women. But, the proud Rani Padmavati along with hundreds of other Rajput women, committed ‘Jauhar’ (death by fire), rather than let Alauddin lay his lustful hands on her.

This incident is recounted as a golden chapter in the history of proud Rajput women of Chittor who preferred to die rather than let themselves be captured by Muslim barbarians.

In 1306, Alauddin defeated an invading force of Mongols at Amroha. 16^th century historian Firishta writes that Alauddin buried 8000 heads of Mongols in the foundation of the wall of Sri Fort in Delhi, a fort area commissioned by him. It is for this reason that this present-day Sports Complex in South Delhi is known as ‘Siri Fort’. Ruins of the wall still exist.

In later years Alauddin launched several invasions on Southern Hindu Kingdoms to plunder their wealth on the lines of Devgiri. It is said that the famous Koh-i-noor diamond was taken by him from king Pratap Rudra of Kakatiya. The Delhi chronicler Ziauddin Barani, described the seizure of wealth from Dwara Samudra and the Pandya kingdoms as the greatest one since the Muslim capture of Delhi! According to excited Amir Khusro’s testimony, the loot burdened ‘1000 camels under the weight of treasure”.  Alauddin defeated many Hindu kingdoms of South. Amir Khusro sarcastically wrote with unconcealed glee in his book ‘Tarik-i-Alai’ that, “all the insolent Hindus had died on the battlefield” and “the earth turned saffron with so many Hindus touching the ground with their forehead in front of Alauddin”!

“The great Ghazi Alauddin Khilji, who had successfully extinguished the depraved Satanic ways of Hindus with his sword from the mountains of Ghazni to mouth of the Ganges, by destroying their temples and putting to death their holy-men (Brahmans), was possessed by a zeal to spread the light of the Mohammedan faith to hitherto untouched regions, namely the Deccan and Southern India.”

 

Alauddin Khilji: Fanatic Islamic Crusader in the path of ‘Allah’

 

Imposition of Jiziya tax on Hindus

Alauddin Khilji was a Sunni Muslim. He imposed heavy Jiziya tax and other taxes on property and land taxes on non-Muslims in the Sultanate. His officers seized half of all produce of any non-Muslim farmer. Kulke and Ruthermond write that, Alauddin Khilji demanded, from his “wise men in the court” to create “rules and regulations in order to grind down the Hindus, so as to reduce them to abject poverty and deprive them of wealth and any form of surplus property that could foster a rebellion; the Hindu was to be so reduced as to be left unable to keep a horse to ride on, to carry arms, to wear fine clothes, or to enjoy any of the luxuries of life”. In short, those Hindus who accepted the ‘Dhimmi’ status had to convert to Islam to escape the burgeoning hardships.

Killing for the ‘sake of Islam’

The contemporary Persian historian Wassaf, while describing Alauddin’s 1299 Gujarat campaign, states that the Sultan was motivated by “the zeal of religion”, and that the Muslim army massacred people “unmercifully, throughout the impure land, for the sake of Islam”. At the invasion of Khambhat, Wassaf writes-

“They took captive a great number of handsome and elegant maidens amounting to 20,000, and children of both sexes, more than the pen can enumerate […] In short, the Muhammadan army brought the country to utter ruin, and destroyed the lives of the inhabitants, and plundered the cities, and captured their offspring, so that many temples were deserted, and the idols were broken and trodden under foot.”

He persecuted Shia Muslims too. Sometime in 1310, Shias were accused of indulging in ‘un-Islamic’ ways in their ‘secret practices’. Several were declared guilty. Alauddin had them sawed in half publicly for their ‘un-Islamic’ practices! 

Picture: Bhai Mati Das was sawed to death in front of Guru Teg Bahadur by Aurangzeb. Same torture to death was inflicted by Alauddin on Shias and his other adversaries.

Alauddin had thousands of women sex slaves

Picture: The cover of this book candidly tells the fate of a slave girl being sold or acquired for sex in the harems of Islamic rulers in India. The next picture tells how captured women were used for entertainment and sex.

Alauddin regarded himself a ‘prophet’ and considered starting a new religion. It didn’t materialize but his megalomania entitled him to keep thousands of sex slaves in his harem, both women and boys! Wherever he defeated a Hindu king, Alauddin would seize the royal women and thousands of other women of the kingdom and brought them to Delhi to be his and his men’s sex slaves. Those kings who accepted his suzerainty had to offer their daughters to Alauddin in order to live.

Alauddin was a compulsive homosexual

Picture above: Malik Kafur

Pictures below: Gay Alauddin with his slave boy-friend

Alauddin’s slave, Malik Kafur, was his boyfriend in whose hands he entrusted most of his power. He “had fallen deeply and madly in love” with Kafur, write historians. Malik Kafur was a Hindu in the beginning. He was a eunuch slave of his earlier master who had purchased him for 1000 dinars. He came to be known as ‘Malik Kafur 1000 Dinari’. Alauddin captured him in his Gujarat campaign and converted him to Islam. Thus ‘kafir’ Malik became Malik Kafuri. Allauddin developed great fascination and physical attraction towards him which made him very influential in power corridors of Delhi.

Malik Kafur got many of his rivals in the administration killed by orders of Alauddin. Kafur even had Alauddin’s eldest sons, Khizr Khan and Shadi Khan, blinded. On the night of 4 January 1316, Kafur killed Alauddin while he was in bed with him. Kafur wasted no time and assassinated the entire Khilji clan. Malik Kafur then married the widow of slain Alauddin.  However, Kafur was also killed soon after by an assassin sent to kill one of Alauddin’s sons. Alauddin’s tomb exists in Qutab complex in Mehrauli, Delhi.

Destruction of Hindu Temples

Alauddin and his generals destroyed hundreds of Hindu temples during their campaigns. Prominent among those were temples of Bhilsa (1292), Devagiri (of present Daulatabad)(1295), Vijapur (1298-1310), Modhera Sun temple (The Sabha Mandap originally had a tall Shikhara, or tower, only the base of which remains, the remainder was destroyed by Alauddin Khilji), Rudra Mahalaya temple in Siddhpur in Patan district of Gujarat (1296), Somnath (1299), Jhain (1301), Chidambaram (1311) and Madurai (1311).

Picture: Modhera Sun Temple

Picture: Rudra Mahadevalaya

Picture: Surya Kund and Sabha Mandap

Writing about the destruction of Somnath temple, Amir Khusro wrote that the temple was bent into the direction of Kaaba! The invaders looted the temple’s wealth, and carried its main idol to Delhi, where its fragments were thrown to be trampled under the feet of Muslims.

Wassaf describes the destruction of the Somnath idol as follows:

“The idol was adorned with a jewel-studded gold crown and a pearl necklace, and was of ‘admirable workmanship’. After looting the jewels, the Muslim soldiers decided to destroy the idol. The Hindus offered them a thousand pieces of gold to spare the idol, but the soldiers rejected the demand. The invaders cut off its perfumed limbs, destroyed it, and carried its fragments to Delhi. The entrance of the city’s Jami Masjid were paved with these fragments”.

Alauddin Khilji, the man and his deeds, can never be forgotten by any proud Hindu for reasons mentioned above. Successive Islamic rulers in India have displayed the basest levels of primitive human existence. Coming from the deserts of Arabia, Afghanistan or Mongol nomadic lands, they found gratification and fulfillment only in loot, plunder, sex slaves, killings in the most brutal ways possible and complete abhorrence to educational, spiritual or cultural advancement of human race. Be it Alauddin, Jalaluddin, Babar, Humayun, Akbar, Jahangir, Shahjehan, Aurangzeb or Bahadurshah Zafar, they remained cocooned within their religious crusades and natural or unnatural sexual gratification. Unfortunately, there are people like Sanjay Leela Bhansali and film actors in modern day India who for sheer commercial gains, find a sense of achievement in romanticizing or glorifying the worst barbarians that ravaged this ancient land of world’s most advanced civilization.

ऋग्वेद का प्रथम श्लोक (First ‘shlok’ of Rigved)

ॐ अग्निमीले पुरोहितं यज्ञस्य देवमृत्विजम्।

होतारं रत्नधातमम्। ॥१॥

Rigved begins with prayers to ‘Agni’, the first attribute of Parmatma. In the first ‘Mandala’ (chapter), the first ‘Sukta’ having nine ‘shlokas’ is devoted to ‘Agni’. Thousands of years before, our Rishis grasped the significance of ‘Agni’ in creation of the cosmos. They attained the knowledge that, it is ‘Agni’ that started the process of creation, of coalescing atoms, which appeared from ‘Aakash’. The power of ‘Agni’ formed stellar dust, stars and planets. They realised that the creation is sustained and nurtured by ‘Agni’. Also, when the end comes, the entire creation will be consumed by ‘Agni’. Therefore, Rigved begins with prayers to ‘Agni’.

Of all the five ‘tattvas’ of creation – ‘Agni’, Water, Air, Earth and Aakash, it is ‘Agni’ that permeates and sustains the structure and integrity of others. Therefore, Rigved, which is a repository of cosmic knowledge, begins with a prayer to ‘Agni’ attribute of Parmatma.

Yask Rishi, the writer of ‘Nirukta’ said that ‘Agni’ is अग्रणि (‘agrani’), which simply means that ‘Agni’ comes first! Also, among the eight ‘Vasu’ (वसु), ‘Agni’ comes first. A much-reduced meaning (through English translation) of ‘Agni’ would be FIRE.

 

Here I present the first ‘shlok’ of RIGVED.

(Kindly note that I have not attempted to translate Sanskrit words into English because it is not possible to do this translation. Sanskrit words are non-translatable. Sanskrit letters or ‘aksharas’ have evolved from ‘shabd’ (sound) and carry a distinct ‘spandan’ (vibration). The very word ‘akshara’ (अक्षर) means that which is indestructible! It is these characteristics of ‘shabd’ and ‘spandan’ that give Sanskrit ‘aksharas’ and words their application in ‘vyavaharika’ (everyday life) and ‘parmarthika’ (spiritual). Translation reduces their vast and profound meaning and spiritual depth. One must know the Sanskrit meaning in Sanskrit or Hindi to grasp the real understanding of a ‘shloka’ from Vedas. We should not look at Vedas through an English lens. You will only see a distorted image. We need to maintain the purity and essence of our original Vedic knowledge. It is our priceless heritage.)

 

ॐ अग्निमीले पुरोहितं यज्ञस्य देवमृत्विजम्। होतारं रत्नधातमम्। ॥१॥

Om ‘Agni’meele purohitam. Yagyasya devamritwijam. Hotaram ratnadhaatmam.

वैदिक अर्थ

अग्नि:  – अग्नि अग्रणि है, अर्थात, ईश्वर के सब गुणों में अग्नि प्रथम है। The ‘tattva’ of Parmatma which starts all creation, that which consumes everything to create new, that which is the property of Parmatma, the very source of everything we know as cosmos and nature, is ‘Agni’.

ईले: – स्तुति करते हैं / I pray to you

पुरः हितम् = पुरोहितम्  – सम्पूर्ण स्रिष्टि से पूर्व / before it all appeared; before the nature became manifest from non-manifest (सूक्ष्म से स्थूल); before the atoms appeared from ‘aakash’

यज्ञः – हवन पूजन युक्त श्रेष्ठ वैदिक कृत्य / Yagya, Vedic way of performing prayers 

यज्ञस्य – इस यज्ञ के / of this Yagya, you are

देवम् – देने वाला देवता हैं और ईश्वर के दिव्य गुणों में श्रेष्ठ है / you are ‘Devta’

ऋत्विजम् – जो सब समय एवं ऋतुऒं में पूज्य है, अर्थात ईश्वर स्वरूप है / ‘Agni’, the attribute of Parmatma, must be worshipped in every time and season

होतारम् – जो जगत् के सब जीवों को सब पदार्थ देने वाला है, जो वर्तमान और प्रलय में सबको समाहित करने वाला है / you are the giver of all bounties and good things in life. In the present and in the end, everything resides in you.

रत्नः – सब उत्तम पदार्थों एवं स्वर्ण रत्नादि को / all good things in life including precious jewels and gold etc.

धातमम् – धारण करने एवं कराने वाला है / you hold all and give them to us

 

हे अग्नि स्वरूप परमात्मा, इस यज्ञ के द्वारा मैं आपकी आराधना करता हूं। स्रिष्टि के पूर्व भी आप थे और आपके अग्निरूप से ही स्रिष्टि की रचना हुई। हे अग्निरूप परमात्मा, आप सब कुछ देने वाले हैं। आप प्रत्येक समय एवं ऋतु में पूज्य हैं। आप ही अपने अग्निरूप से जगत् के सब जीवों को सब पदार्थ देने वाले हैं एवं वर्तमान और प्रलय में सबको समाहित करने वाले हैं। हे अग्निरूप परमात्मा आप ही सब उत्तम पदार्थों को धारण करने एवं कराने वाले है।

 

In English, the prayer would be something like,

“I pray to you, ‘Agni’, the prime ‘tattva’ of ‘Parmatma’ by performing this Vedic Yagya. You, ‘Agni’, were there before there was anything. With you, ‘Agni’, the creation started. You are the giver of everything. I pray to you ‘Agni’, in all days, in every season. You, ‘Agni’, sustain all creation and will consume it when the end comes. It is because of you, ‘Agni’, that we get all the beautiful things of life. You are the source of everything beautiful”.

 

As the original Vedic learning and practices got diluted due to several reasons, many scholars and artists gave human forms to various attributes of Parmatma. Each one of the attributes became a ‘devta’ with a ‘human form’ who had the power which that attribute represented like, ‘agnidev’, ‘vayudev’ and so on. I will not go into details of these here. However, it is pertinent to note that this dilution or innovation has quite often led to very distorted interpretation of Vedas.

पौराणिक अर्थ (विक्रित or distorted)

The following translations are by some well-known exponents of Vedas who are popularly known as ‘Vedic Scholars’. There are many of them. Some of them teach westerners too and run ‘Vedas learning centres’ abroad. See how they use the word ‘sacrifice’ for Yagya and entirely distort the real meaning of the Vedic ‘shlok’. As Rajiv Malhotra rightly says, YAGYA is NOT ‘SACRIFICE’! Such ‘scholars’ are doing great disservice to our priceless Vedic heritage. Word ‘Sacrifice’, has a completely different meaning and context in Abrahamic religions.

1. “Om, I praise ‘Agni’ who is the Purohita (Priest) of the Yagya (Sacrifice) (Priest leading the Sacrifice), (as well as) its Ritvij (Priest performing Sacrifice at proper times); the Yagya which is directed towards the Devas,
Who is (also) the Hotara (Priest invoking the Gods) and the bestower of Ratna (Wealth of physical, mental and spiritual plane)”.

2. I Laud Agni, the chosen Priest, God, minister of sacrifice,
The hotar, lavishest of wealth.

3. “O Agni, I adore Thee,

priest, O divine minister

Who officiates at the divine Sacrifice,

Who is also the invoker, the Summoner,

Who most bestows the divine wealth upon us.”

The above quoted meanings of Agni Mantra are distorted. They reflect poor understanding of what our Rishis meant to convey in Sanskrit. I emphasize once again, ‘Yagya does not mean ‘Sacrifice’.

CHRISTIANITY: An Invention by Romans Part – 6: Constructing JESUS over Exodus & Book of Daniel

The writers of Gospels and Josephus who wrote the literature of the ‘new’ religion of Christianity based them on two important integers of Hebrew Bible – Exodus and the Book of Daniel. These two are common knowledge, however, it will be pertinent to recall briefly their importance in Jewish theology. Exodus is the story of Jew slaves who left Egypt under Moses’ leadership and wandered in the deserts for forty years. Book of Daniels is a compilation of ‘Prophecies’ by Daniel which came to pass on the desolation of Jerusalem.

Book of Exodus: Jesus as the New Moses

Here is a summary of Exodus.

The Israelites prospered in Egypt and their population increased to nearly 600,000. The Pharaoh, afraid of their growing numbers, ordered that the newly born male child of Israelites be killed by throwing into the river Nile. Pharaoh’s daughter found a Hebrew baby by the river in a basket. She adopted him and named him Moses. When he grew up, Moses killed an Egyptian and fled to Midian. Moses saw a burning bush and heard the voice God coming from it. God told him to lead Israelites out of Egypt. Moses and his brother Aaron told Pharaoh to let the Israelites go but, he refused and instead increased their workload instead. Aaron’s staff became a snake and the Nile turned blood red. Still Pharaoh didn’t yield. Then God sent successive plagues of Frogs, livestock, boils, hail, locusts, darkness for three days but Pharaoh would not yield. Then God told Moses to tell his people to take Passover of Lamb (slaughter of a lamb, roasting and painting his blood on the entrance door of their houses). That night the firstborn Egyptians would die. When Pharaoh’s son also died, he allowed Moses to lead his people out of Egypt. God parted the sea waters and Moses led 600,000 of Israelites out of Egypt into the desert. This was the EXODUS which lasted for forty years.

There are further stories of Ten Commandments and institution of daily sacrifice of a young bull and two rams, with ceremonies of blood and roast over an altar with four horns. Also, God instructed the construction of a tabernacle, the meeting place of God with Moses or the Priests.

Jesus as a Passover lamb

PASSOVER is the festival which Jews celebrate to commemorate the release from Egypt under the guidance of Moses. When Pharaoh became adamant that he will not let go of the Israeli Jews, God ‘instructed’ Moses to tell his people that they were to choose a lamb, who must be a year old. The lamb should be without any defect. They could also take them from the sheep or goats.

The lamb was to be slaughtered, roasted and to be eaten with bread made without yeast! They were instructed to paint the lamb’s blood on the sides and door frames of the houses of all Jews who sacrificed a lamb, roasted it and ate it.

Next day, God sent His destroyer through Egypt and brought his plague throughout the land. The first-born son of every household died from God’s curse, including the son of Pharaoh. Only those houses were spared which had followed the instructions of God and painted lamb’s blood on the door. This Lamb of Hebrew Bible is the Passover Lamb.

BLOOD and BREAD are the key elements of the sacrificial PASSOVER LAMB in Jew traditions.

Jesus is the ‘new’ Moses of Christianity

There are many parallels between the life of Moses and the events in the life of Jesus. We have already discussed many in the previous blog. Exodus from Egypt is a salient event in the history of Jews. It followed a FORTY YEARS crucial period in various life events of Moses. Keeping these in mind, let us see how Josephus (and his team or co-writers) goes about building Jesus as the ‘‘new’’ Moses and Christianity as the ‘‘new’’ Judaism.

The founder of the ‘new’ religion was to be the ‘new’ Moses. An important aspect of Judaism was that the blood of a sacrificial lamb was liked by God and it was offered to wash away the sins of Jews. The Passover lamb is an essential part of Jewish religion. Since Judea was at war with Rome and there is an obscure ‘prophecy’ in the Book of Daniel which predicted the stopping of daily sacrifice, Jesus could not be expected to continue the old traditions of Jews and their daily sacrifice. Titus destroyed the Temple and brought the daily sacrifice of animals to a halt, therefore, Jesus could not resume it by presenting a ‘Passover lamb’. So, to get over this problem, Josephus presented Jesus Christ himself as the ‘Passover Lamb’ after Crucifixion!

Jews sacrifice a Lamb on a rectangular altar with ‘four horns’, one in each corner (see picture) to atone for their sins.

Jesus is the new ‘Passover Lamb’, sacrificed on a cross with ‘four’ limbs! Animal sacrifices were no more needed as the ‘son’ of God had sacrificed himself over a ‘cross’ to atone for the sins of mankind, forever!

Jesus is setup as the Passover Lamb after Crucifixion.

Q

• The New Testament establishes a relationship between Jewish Passover lamb and the Complete Passover Lamb, Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 5:7). “Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed”
• John the Baptist recognized Jesus as “the Lamb of God” (John 1:29). “The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”
• Apostle Peter links the lamb without defect (Exodus 12:5) with Christ, whom he calls a “lamb without blemish or defect” (1 Peter 1:19). “but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a Lamb without blemish or spot.”
• Jesus is qualified to be called One “without blemish” as was the original command of Moses to Israelites, because his life was presented as completely free from sin (Hebrews 4:15).
• In Revelation, John the apostle sees Jesus as “a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain” (Revelation 5:6).
• Jesus was crucified during the time that the Passover was observed (Mark 14:12). The Passover with the Disciples: ‘And on the first day of Unleavened Bread, when they sacrificed the Passover lamb, his disciples said to him’, “Where will you have us go and prepare for you to eat the Passover?”
• Exodus 16: When the followers of Moses started ‘murmuring’ for lack of food’, Then the Lord said to Moses, “I will rain down bread from heaven for you. The people are to go out each day and gather enough for that day. God rained down quail birds for meat and manna for bread.

• Jesus heard his followers ‘murmuring’ for lack of food. Jesus continues his discussion, saying: “Your forefathers ate the manna in the wilderness and yet they died” (alluding to Moses giving bread/manna to his followers). In contrast, he explains: “I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread he will live forever; and for a fact, the bread that I will give is my flesh in behalf of the life of the world.”—John 6:48-51

“Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in yourselves. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has everlasting life,. . for my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood remains in union with me.”—John 6:53-56.

Notice the emphasis on Bread and Blood in both Exodus and New Testament. Bread represents the ‘flesh of Jesus Christ’ and Wine, his ‘blood’, which are offered to Christians in a church.

The story of Exodus and early life of Moses formed the TYPE on which the life of Christ was positioned. The sequence, concepts and time are uncannily very well synchronized.

Jesus’ miracles have been projected as bigger than those of Moses. Following examples are very revealing.

• Elisha (old Bible) satisfied a hundred men with twenty loaves and still had bread to spare.

Jesus fed five thousand men with five loaves and two fishes and still had twelve baskets to spare.

• God gave the Commandments to Moses fifty days after the first Passover.

Christianity also gave the ‘‘new’’ law Fifty days after its Passover, the crucifixion of Jesus.

• 3000 people died for worshipping the golden calf, on the day Moses was given the law.

3000 people were ‘added’ to followers of Christ on the day the ‘spirit’ was given to Jesus. Of course, the ‘new’ Messiah was life giver, not life taker!

• The Exodus of Israelites was followed by ‘40’ years of exile before they could come to Egypt.

It took Christianity ‘40’ years after the crucifixion of Christ in 33 CE and the fall of Masada in 73 CE, to come to Jerusalem.

It is important to recognize how literally early Christianity saw itself as a replacement for Judaism, even to the extent that the early church fathers like Eusebius claimed that the ancient Hebrews were Christians and not Jews.

The destruction of the Temple and fall of the citadel of Masada came to state the completion of the prophecies of Daniel (Book of Daniel) and thus the ending of Judaism. Crucifixion of Christ and his claimed ‘resurrection’ on the third day, heralded the onset of a ‘new’ religion, the religion of Christ. Thus, the writers of the ‘new’ Testament and Wars of Jews smoothly brought about an end to the ‘old’ militant rebellious Judaism and its immediate replacement with a pro Roman and pacifist ‘‘new’’ Judaism. Early Christianity was nothing but a transformed Judaism in its ‘new’ ‘avatar’ of Christianity. The Crucifixion of Christ was the ‘new’ Passover!

As Joseph Atwill says in his book, Caesar’s Messiah, “One must admire the craftsmanship of the intellectuals who produced the works of Josephus and the New Testament. ….. they were able to neatly remove from history a religious movement that opposed them militarily and replace it with one aligned to their interests. In doing so, they were able to conform history to theology to such an extent that one movement ended and the other came forth on the same day.”

CHRISTIANITY: An Invention by Romans. Part-5 – the New Testament (Christian Bible) is a ‘Parallel’ of Titus Flavius’ Military Campaign in Judea

In a previous blog, I had shown that the Prophecies of Jesus came to pass and were fulfilled in the war campaign of Titus Flavius, son of Caesar Vespasian Flavius. The prophecies of Jesus run parallel to the campaign of Titus in Jerusalem. Josephus, the historian for Romans, has written in detail, the events that led to the destruction of the Temple at Jerusalem. Joseph Atwill, writing in his book Caesar’s Messiah, has shown that the New Testament and ‘War of The Jews’ by Josephus, show remarkable parallel events when both are read side by side. The sheer vast number of these parallel events are impossible to happen by chance. The probability of this happening by some supernatural revelation, is just not there. The only conclusion that one can draw is that the authors of the two were the same.

Right on the first page of Matthew, the TYPOLOGY is laid bare. There is a complete overlay of the story of Moses by the story of Jesus Christ. The early life of Jesus parallels that of Moses. This is not disputed by any renowned Christian scholar these days. The picture below shows just a few of them.

As we analyze the New Testament and the Complete Works of Josephus, we find that the entire Ministry of Jesus is a reflection, name by name, concept by concept and step by step, of Titus’ military campaign in Judea, leading to the destruction of the Temple.

Such uncanny resemblance cannot be possible unless it was deliberately done and the authors of the two were the same.

As Joseph Atwil tells, the two had the same Names, Locations, Concepts and Sequence! Once you read the New Testament keeping this in mind, you will find that the journey of Jesus and Titus was the same.

The Ministry of Jesus begins with the beginning of Titus’ military campaign and ends with the end of the campaign!

Let us look at the remarkable parallels.

Both, Jesus’ Ministry and Titus’ military campaign begin at the same place- The sea of Galilee.

1. At the Sea of Galilee:

As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee,

Matthew 4:19  “Come, follow Me,” Jesus said, “and I will make you fishers of men.”

Luke 5:10 “From now on you will catch men”

Wars of the Jews. 3, 10, 527

Titus’ followers then fish for men on the Sea of Galilee. The Jews escaped in their boats into the sea of Galilee. Titus’ men pursued them in their own faster boats and upturned them or destroyed them. Jews fell into the sea.

‘And for such as were drowning in the sea, if they lifted their heads up above the water, there were either killed by darts, or caught by the vessels’. Thus, soldiers were fishing for Jew rebels in the sea of Galilee when they escaped on their boats.

 

2. Then Jesus goes to outside the city of Jerusalem and WAITS there.

 

Then Titus takes his legions to outside the city of Jerusalem and WAITS there to prepare for the assault on the city.

 

3. Matthew, Mark, Luke and John all tell a story of Jesus healing on the Sabbath day and the Jews try to accuse him of thus breaking the law of the Sabbath. Jesus restores a man’s right hand, that was withered.

On the Sabbath, Titus send Josephus who offers the Jews his (Titus’) right hand (security of Rome) to surrender, but they refuse because they can’t go for peace on the Sabbath.

4. The Demons of Gadara

This is a story in the New Testament which parallels the sequence in Titus’ campaign.

Jesus asks the name of a demon, who answers “Legion”. Read about this at Bible.org – 16. Healing the Demoniac at Gadara. “And he was dangerous (Natt 8:28). So, the demons are very powerful. The gospels tell us that Jesus carried out exorcism of Jews affected by demons at Gadara.

Josephus describes a legion of Jews with a demonic (rebellious) spirit against Rome. When Titus reaches Gadara, the rebels (demons) surrender but, many rush to the hills and like ‘swine possessed by demons’ fall of the cliff. 

 

5. Now Jesus and Titus both go to Jerusalem!

Luke 9:51-56: And Jesus sent messengers on ahead, who went into a Samaritan village to get things ready for him. On their way they entered a village of the Samaritan to make ready for him; but they did not receive him.

Josephus records that Titus now heads straight for Jerusalem. He sends his messengers in advance to warn Jews to surrender otherwise it may be too late. Jews refuse to surrender.

6. Then there is a story of Jesus on the way to Jerusalem, ‘It happened, as he came near Jericho, a certain blind man sat by the road, begging’. Jesus restores his sight and showers his mercies on him.

Josephus records that the 12^th Legion on their way to Jerusalem, is attacked by a group of rebel Jews at Jericho. Their mules and other belongings are taken away. Titus meets this legion on the way and refurbishes it completely and takes them along.

7. As Jesus arrives outside the city of Jerusalem, he waits there. He is met by Jews who don’t believe him and mock him. They are creeping in numbers, they lay traps for him.

Josephus describes that when Titus arrives outside the city, his army is attacked by Jews who fight him first outside the city walls.

8. At the same time, both Jesus and Josephus talk of sedition.

At this very time, Gospels tell that when asked whether he had come for ‘peace on earth’, Jesus tells the Jews that he has not come for peace but warns- (I have come for) ‘rather division, for from now on five in one house will be divided: three against two, and two against three.

Josephus writes, ‘that sedition, which had been divided into three factions, was now reduced to two’.

9. An important parallel that Atwil mentions is that of –

Matthew 7:19 – Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Picture shows Jesus cursing a fig tree.

Josephus writes that Titus, intending to pitch his camp nearer to the city…gave orders for the whole army to level the distance, had made about their gardens and groves of trees, and cut down all the fruit trees…

10. Luke 19:41-44 JESUS– ‘Your enemies will pile up earth against your walls and encircle you and close in on you’

Josephus- War of the Jews: Titus raised a wall around the Temple town of Jerusalem, which was as high as the city walls, all around its circumference.

11. Luke 19:41-44 JESUS- “not one stone here will be left on another; everyone will be thrown down”.

Josephus-War of the Jews: The Second Temple of Jews in Jerusalem was demolished by Titus – “until not one stone remained atop another”

 

12. John’s Revelation 16:18- “And there were noises and thundering and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake, such a mighty and great earthquake as had not occurred since men were on the earth.”

JOSEPHUS- Wars of the Jews 4:4:5 “for there broke out a prodigious storm in the night, with the utmost violence, and very strong winds, with the largest showers of rain, with continued lightnings, terrible thunderings, and amazing concussions and bellowings of the earth, that was in an earthquake. These things were a manifest indication that some destruction was coming upon men.

 

13. Matthew 21:12 “And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the … said unto them, It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves.”

Exactly at this point in the narrative of Josephus, Titus enters the Temple and takes control of the area, driving out ‘robbers and thieves’.

 

14. Abomination of Desolation

Daniel 9:26-27 (Hebrew Bible) refers to a prince who will destroy the city (Jerusalem) along with its temple and sacrifices, “and on the wings of abominations shall come one who makes desolate.” “From the time that the daily sacrifice is abolished and the abomination that causes desolation is set up, there will be 1,290 days. Isn’t it remarkable that 1290 days or, three and a half years, is exact period of Titus’ military campaign in Judea, according to Josephus!

The segment ends with Jesus promising “this generation will not pass away until all these things have taken place”.

 

A generation was considered 40 years of lifetime among Jews . Therefore, the destruction of Temple happened within the lifetime of that generation. The Abomination of Desolation came to pass at the hands of Titus Flavius, a prince. This is a very important, and one of many indisputable parallels, that go to show that the New Testament is a commentary on Titus’s military campaign. Josephus wrote this parallel to indicate that the ‘prophecy’ of Daniel came to pass with the destruction of Jerusalem. A very clever piece of history writing, keeping in view the old Bible as well.

I have written just few of the common parallels but, there are too many of them. In this age of technology and information, all old scriptures are open to scrutiny. Internet has given a new power of exploration to all those who seek the truth.

New Testament is the ‘New Bible’ which has been ‘Typed’ on the stories of the Old Hebrew Bible. There is overwhelming evidence to prove that. The religion of Christianity was created to appear as if evolving out of Judaism. The ‘New Judaism’ appeared to smoothly transition from Old Bible to New Bible! Josephus and his fellow writers, fulfilling the directives of Caesar Titus, wrote a new Jew history from a Roman perspective, created literature for a new religion that gave life to a messiah who was pro Rome and pacifist but, strongly against militant Jews. He exhorted Jews to ‘give what was due to Rome’, meaning taxes! He was not the militant messiah that was supposed to come from the family of Prophet David, who would defeat Romans and restore Jew rule over the known world.

Joseph Ben Matityahu or Josephus was a remarkable Jew historian, priest of the Temple of Jerusalem, a descendant of royal family from his mother’s side, a soldier of resistance against Romans and finally a turned confidante and history writer for Caesar. He was adopted into the Flavian family and renamed, Titus Flavius Josephus. Caesar Vespasian Flavius, father of Titus Flavius, recognized his extraordinary religious scholarship and knowledge of Jew history. He adopted him into his family and gave quarters within his palace. Josephus also accompanied Titus in his military campaign in Judea. He was the firsthand witness to the campaign. His extensive knowledge of Jew ancestry and religious literature was vital to writing Jesus literature.

The purpose of these blogs is to stimulate an inquiry. It is in the character of humans to raise questions and seek answers to questions and not, to just blindly ‘believe’ what has been presented to them from generation to generation. Many scholars around the world are questioning the whole gamut of so called, evidence to the historicity of Jesus Christ and Christian theology.  It is important to approach this subject with an open and an inquisitive mind. I appeal to my Christian friends that they should weigh the available evidence objectively without any religious bias. If there is any evidence to the contrary, present it so that the truth prevails. ‘Belief’ systems can perpetuate falsehood by shutting down the greatest attributes of humans- seeking of truth! It is only when we question age old false ‘beliefs’, that we can truly go from darkness to light.