Many Resurrections, Messiahs and Gods Tim Leedom with excerpts from The Book Your Church Doesn't Want You To Read Looking Back at Easter Easter's origin vastly predates the birth of Jesus, as a celebration for the return of the sun. Ancient civilizations worshiped the sun because it provided light, warmth and was associated with the growth of crops. Divine significance was attached to the Sun God (Baldur) as well as to his wife, the fertility goddess Ishtar ("Eostre," the Anglicized version of her name was a quick jump to Easter) At the time of the fall equinox, the sun begins to wane. The ancients believed that the Sun God was slain to atone for the sins of the world. After a long, dark and cold winter the sun once more returned for progressively longer each day. By the time of the vernal equinox, the earth once again yielded life and began producing crops: "spring." This was the invincible Sun God's victory over death. The "resurrection" of the Sun God was preceded by a week-long observance atoning the death of the beloved god. There would be lamenting, and cathartic rituals. Meals of bread and wine, symbolizing the body and blood of the slain god, were believed to contribute to virility and sexual prowess. Even greater potency would result from worship directed toward Ishtar who effected the fertility of the crops and livestock as well as human sexuality. This is the reason that the observance in her honor is replete with symbols of fertility such as rabbits and eggs. It was a common custom for ancient Persians and Egyptians to color eggs with dye and give them as gifts. Ishtar was also the goddess of the dawn and the ancients held annual sunrise worship ceremonies in her honor. It becomes obvious that early church fathers attached events in Jesus' life story to a pre-existing holiday and "holy" rituals are clearly based on pagan practices; even named after pagan gods. But what is important to note, resurrection stories, usually concerning some "god," are in JUSt about every culture throughout all time. Another story that goes hand-in-hand with "the resurrection" is the concept of some hero comrade of the gods, a returning Messiah, who brings peace on earth and/or talks of the "end of time." Messiahs and end-of-the-world predictions have been around forever. Jesus wasn't the first nor will he be the last to be proclaimed as a Messiah. Most all religions tend to include some "end of an age" concept. What is so interesting is that the predictions are astrologically based, because some form of astrology is the foundation for nearly all of the ancient religions. As Jordan Maxwell points out: The "end-of-time" or "end of the world" by Christian prophecy is a misinterpretation. The phrase is correctly translated as the "end of an age" (aeon). For example, the ending of the "age of Pisces" and entering the "age of Aquarius." These "ages" last approximately 2000 years, according to the study of astrology, and derive from the Earth's precession. This information is found in all cultures in the ancient world. When this was stated in the Bible, Matthew 28:20, Jesus was saying that he would be with his followers until the end of the "Piscean Age," and then according to Luke 22:10, he would be going into the "new age," or the "house of the man with the water pitcher," which is, according to astrology, the "age of Aquarius." As Maxwell explains: Based on astrological computation "God's" Sun entered the "age of Pisces" some 1995 years ago. This leaves only a few years until the beginning of the next aeon. Then we are in the last days . . . THE LAST DAYS OF PISCES, according to ancient stellar cosmology and we are truly on the dawn of the new age. False Messiahs, Saints and Saviors For false Christs and false prophets will rise, and show great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect. — Matthew 24:24 Fanaticism has no religious boundaries. All creeds have their own zealots. Abraham Ben Samuel Abulafia (1240-circa 1291) — Born in Spain, Abulafia left his native land in 1260 to search for a mythical ruler in Israel. Through his boldness and charisma, he gained a large following eager to believe that redemption was at hand. Jan Bockelson, (John of Leiden) (1509-1536) — The son of a Leiden merchant, Bockelson was a tailor by trade before joining the radical Dutch Anabaptist movement. Bockelson was taken into captivity and, like Christ on the cross, was ridiculed by his captors for not saving himself if he was really the messiah. Sentenced to death in 1535, he was shackled to a stake, scorched with heated pincers and detongued. Sabbatai Zebi (1626-1676) — The central figure in the largest messianic movement in Jewish history, Sabbatai Zebi was born in Smyrna, Turkey. He was waiting for god to send him a bride. That bride was Sarah, a Polish prostitute who had long maintained that she was destined to marry the messiah. Word of Sabbatai's mission quickly spread from Jerusalem throughout Palestine and eventually across Europe. His wanton sexual activity and erratic behavior eventually drew fire from Muslim authorities, who exiled him to the remote Albanian seaport of Dulcigno (now Ulcinj, Montenegro, formerly part of Yugoslavia) where he died on September 17, the day of Atonement, in 1676. Jemima Wilkenson (1752-1829) — According to Wilkenson, the daughter of a Quaker farmer in Rhode Island, she "died" when she was 20. Before her family could bury her, however, she rose as a reincarnation of Christ, sent on a divine mission to found the Church and prepare the Chosen Few for the second Coming, scheduled to occur, she said, in her lifetime. Jemima Wilkenson died the second time. In keeping with her instructions, members did not bury her but instead waited anxiously for her to rise once again. As her body decomposed, the faith of many of the Universal Friends declined. Their numbers dwindled rapidly, and in 1874 the last believer died. Hung Sin-tsuan — Born in Fuyuanshui village, Kwantung Province, China, Hung repeatedly failed the national civil service examination. His cousin gave him a Christian pamphlet entitled, "Good Words for Exhorting the Age." Hung believed he finally understood the meaning of the hallucinations he had suffered during his breakdown six years earlier. He proclaimed himself as sent by heaven to drive out the Tatars, and to restore in his own person the succession to China. Together with his disciple Feng Yun-shan, he engineered the Tai Ping Rebellion (1850-1865), a revolt against the ruling Ching (or the Manchu) dynasty. The extreme poverty, crowded conditions, widespread xenophobia, and general discontent under the alien Manchus attracted legions of followers to Hung. His armies captured hundreds of cities, most notably Nanking in 1853. Hung swallowed poison in June, 1864, six years before the fall of Nanking to Manchu forces. Hung's Tai Ping Rebellion cost millions of lives. Orix Bovar (1917-1977) — A quiet charismatic figure who drifted from astrology to mysticism, Boyar by the mid 1970s had attracted some 200 followers in New York and California. He appealed to such people as Carol Burnett and Bernadette Peters. However, he alienated many when he announced that he was Jesus Christ and began celebrating Christmas with the faithful on August 29, his own birthday. Arrested for failing to report a death, Bovar told police (who, responding to a tip, raided the apartment where the vigil was being held) that he was trying to raise his disciple from the dead. On April 14, 1977, shortly before he was scheduled to appear in court to respond to the charges, he jumped from his 10th-floor apartment. Joan of Arc "Joan of the Bow" — Joan the Huntress. Joan herself stated that she received her mission "at the tree of the Fairy-ladies," a center of the Dianic cult at Domremy. In 1429, ecclesiastical judges examined her and announced that the holy angels had appointed her to save France. Later, the Bishop of Beauvais reversed this decision. In 1431, aged only 19, she was burned as a witch at Rouen, wearing a placard that said, "Relapsed, Heretic, Apostate, Idolater." For 500 years, Joan remained a popular national heroine until she was finally canonized by Pope Benedict XV in 1920. Ironically, the same church that pronounced Joan a witch and had her killed now claims her as a saint. Christopher Columbus — Columbus discovered America, the most significant event for the human race after the birth, death, and resurrection of the Savior of the world. Faith liberated Columbus from the chains of human myopia, launching him on a divine mission and propelling him to a providential destination initiating the histories of the United States, Canada, and the numerous American Republics. In 1501, Christopher Columbus, navigator and admiral. announced that he was the Messiah prophesied by Joachim, the Calabrian Abbot. His geographical discovery of a direct route for missionaries to the Orient — he died without ever learning that he hadn't reached the East Indies — was the climax of the fifteen centuries since Christ The next climax in history would be a successful last crusade. His calling was to lead the Christian armies. Guiseppe Desa — born in Copertino, in the heel of Italy, in 1603. Later, as St. Joseph of Copertino, he became famous as the "Flying Monk" because of his remarkable levitations during ecstatic states. His early life was very similar to that of Jesus Christ. Joseph's father was a poor carpenter who, after considerable harassment from creditors, was forced to move his pregnant wife away from town. It is said that Joseph was born in a stable. At school he was called "Open Mouth" because of his tendency to sit motionless with mouth agape, staring at the heavens. Just over 100 years after Joseph's death, on July 16, 1767, it was formally announced that the Flying Friar had been made a saint. Maitreya — the current "Savior" — lives in and out of London. Supposedly he descended in July of 1977 from his ancient retreat in the Himalayas. He now appears "out of the blue" and is recognized by his followers as "The Christ." His followers keep the world apprised of his appearance via a newsletter, The Emergence. Table of Contents | 1996 Issues | Subscribe Truth Seeker | Feedback | Freethought.com Webmaster Credit card Orders call: 800-321-9054 or fax: (619)676-0433 Or send check or money order to: Truth Seeker / 16935 W. Bernardo Drive, Suite 103 / San Diego, CA 92127 $20.00 annual U.S. subscription ($35.00 international). Individual issues—$10.00 + $2.50 postage and handling Or be a committed freethinker and send $35.00 for a two year subscription. Truth Seeker is published by Truth Seeker Co., Inc. (ISSN 0041-3712) © 1996