The Forged Origins of The New Testament
In the fourth century, the Roman Emperor Constantine united all religious
factions under one composite deity, and ordered the compilation of new and old
writings into a uniform collection that became the New Testament.
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Extracted from Nexus Magazine, Volume 14, Number 4 (June - July 2007)
PO Box 30, Mapleton Qld 4560 Australia. editor@nexusmagazine.com
Telephone: +61 (0)7 5442 9280; Fax: +61 (0)7 5442 9381
From our web page at: http://www.nexusmagazine.com/
by Tony Bushby © March 2007
Correspondence:
c/- NEXUS Magazine
PO Box 30, Mapleton, Qld 4560, Australia
Fax: +61 (0)7 5493 1900
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What the Church doesn't want you to know
It has often been emphasized that Christianity is unlike any other religion, for
it stands or falls by certain events which are alleged to have occurred
during a short period of time some 20 centuries ago. Those stories are presented
in the New Testament, and as new evidence is revealed it will become clear that
they do not represent historical realities. The Church agrees,
saying:
"Our documentary sources of knowledge about the origins of Christianity and its
earliest development are chiefly the New Testament Scriptures, the
authenticity of which we must, to a great extent, take for granted."
(Catholic Encyclopedia, Farley ed., vol. iii, p. 712)
The Church makes extraordinary admissions about its New Testament. For example,
when discussing the origin of those writings, "the most distinguished body of
academic opinion ever assembled" (Catholic Encyclopedias, Preface) admits that
the Gospels "do not go back to the first century of the Christian era" (Catholic
Encyclopedia, Farley ed., vol. vi, p. 137, pp. 655-6).
This statement conflicts with priesthood assertions that the earliest Gospels
were progressively written during the decades following the death of the Gospel
Jesus Christ. In a remarkable aside, the Church further admits that "the
earliest of the extant manuscripts [of the New Testament], it is true, do not
date back beyond the middle of the fourth century AD" (Catholic Encyclopedia,
op. cit., pp. 656-7). That is some 350 years after the time the Church claims
that a Jesus Christ walked the sands of Palestine, and here the true story of
Christian origins slips into one of the biggest black holes in history.
There is, however, a reason why there were no New Testaments until the fourth
century: they were not written until then, and here we find evidence of the
greatest misrepresentation of all time.
It was British-born Flavius Constantinus (Constantine, originally Custennyn or
Custennin) (272-337) who authorized the compilation of the writings now called
the New Testament. After the death of his father in 306, Constantine became King
of Britain, Gaul and Spain, and then, after a series of victorious battles,
Emperor of the Roman Empire. Christian historians give little or no hint of the
turmoil of the times and suspend Constantine in the air, free of all human
events happening around him. In truth, one of Constantine's main problems was
the uncontrollable disorder amongst presbyters and their belief in numerous
gods.
The majority of modern-day Christian writers suppress the truth about the
development of their religion and conceal Constantine's efforts to curb the
disreputable character of the presbyters who are now called "Church Fathers"
(Catholic Encyclopedia, Farley ed., vol. xiv, pp. 370-1). They were "maddened",
he said (Life of Constantine, attributed to Eusebius Pamphilius of Caesarea, c.
335, vol. iii, p. 171; The Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, cited as N&PNF,
attributed to St Ambrose, Rev. Prof. Roberts, DD, and Principal James Donaldson,
LLD, editors, 1891, vol. iv, p. 467). The "peculiar type of oratory" expounded
by them was a challenge to a settled religious order (The Dictionary of
Classical Mythology, Religion, Literature and Art, Oskar Seyffert, Gramercy, New
York, 1995, pp. 544-5). Ancient records reveal the true nature of the
presbyters, and the low regard in which they were held has been subtly
suppressed by modern Church historians. In reality, they were:
"...the most rustic fellows, teaching strange paradoxes. They openly declared
that none but the ignorant was fit to hear their discourses ... they never
appeared in the circles of the wiser and better sort, but always took care to
intrude themselves among the ignorant and uncultured, rambling around to play
tricks at fairs and markets ... they lard their lean books with the fat of old
fables ... and still the less do they understand ... and they write nonsense on
vellum ... and still be doing, never done."
(Contra Celsum ["Against Celsus"], Origen of Alexandria, c. 251, Bk I, p. lxvii,
Bk III, p. xliv, passim)
Clusters of presbyters had developed "many gods and many lords" (1 Cor. 8:5) and
numerous religious sects existed, each with differing doctrines (Gal. 1:6).
Presbyterial groups clashed over attributes of their various gods and "altar was
set against altar" in competing for an audience (Optatus of Milevis, 1:15, 19,
early fourth century). From Constantine's point of view, there were several
factions that needed satisfying, and he set out to develop an all-embracing
religion during a period of irreverent confusion.
In an age of crass ignorance, with nine-tenths of the peoples of Europe
illiterate, stabilizing religious splinter groups was only one of Constantine's
problems. The smooth generalisation, which so many historians are content to
repeat, that Constantine "embraced the Christian religion" and subsequently
granted "official toleration", is "contrary to historical fact" and should be
erased from our literature forever (Catholic Encyclopedia, Peccied., vol. iii,
p. 299, passim). Simply put, there was no Christian religion at Constantine's
time, and the Church acknowledges that the tale of his "conversion" and
"baptism" are "entirely legendary" (Catholic Encyclopedia, Farley ed.,
vol. xiv, pp. 370-1).
Constantine "never acquired a solid theological knowledge" and "depended heavily
on his advisers in religious questions" (Catholic Encyclopedia, New Edition,
vol. xii, p. 576, passim). According to Eusebeius (260-339), Constantine noted
that among the Presbyterian factions "strife had grown so serious, vigorous
action was necessary to establish a more religious state", but he could not
bring about a settlement between rival god factions (Life of Constantine, op.
cit., pp. 26-8). His advisers warned him that the presbyters' religions were
"destitute of foundation" and needed official stabilization (ibid.).
Constantine saw in this confused system of fragmented dogmas the opportunity to
create a new and combined State religion, neutral in concept, and to protect it
by law. When he conquered the East in 324 he sent his Spanish religious adviser,
Osius of Córdoba, to Alexandria with letters to several bishops exhorting them
to make peace among themselves.
The mission failed and Constantine, probably at the suggestion of Osius, then
issued a decree commanding all presbyters and their subordinates "be mounted on
asses, mules and horses belonging to the public, and travel to the city of
Nicaea" in the Roman province of Bithynia in Asia Minor. They were instructed to
bring with them the testimonies they orated to the rabble, "bound in leather"
for protection during the long journey, and surrender them to Constantine upon
arrival in Nicaea (The Catholic Dictionary, Addis and Arnold, 1917, "Council of
Nicaea" entry). Their writings totalled "in all, two thousand two hundred and
thirty-one scrolls and legendary tales of gods and saviours, together with a
record of the doctrines orated by them" (Life of Constantine, op. cit., vol. ii,
p. 73; N&PNF, op. cit., vol. i, p. 518).
The First Council of Nicaea and the "missing records"
Thus, the first ecclesiastical gathering in history was summoned and is today
known as the Council of Nicaea. It was a bizarre event that provided many
details of early clerical thinking and presents a clear picture of the
intellectual climate prevailing at the time. It was at this gathering
that Christianity was born, and the ramifications of decisions made at the
time are difficult to calculate. About four years prior to chairing the Council,
Constantine had been initiated into the religious order of Sol Invictus, one of
the two thriving cults that regarded the Sun as the one and only Supreme God
(the other was Mithraism).
Because of his Sun worship, he instructed Eusebius to convene the first of three
sittings on the summer solstice, 21 June 325 (Catholic Encyclopedia, New
Edition, vol. i, p. 792), and it was "held in a hall in Osius's palace"
(Ecclesiastical History, Bishop Louis Dupin, Paris, 1686, vol. i, p. 598). In an
account of the proceedings of the conclave of presbyters gathered at Nicaea,
Sabinius, Bishop of Hereclea, who was in attendance, said, "Excepting
Constantine himself and Eusebius Pamphilius, they were a set of
illiterate, simple creatures who understood nothing" (Secrets of the
Christian Fathers, Bishop J. W. Sergerus, 1685, 1897 reprint).
This is another luminous confession of the ignorance and uncritical credulity of
early churchmen. Dr Richard Watson (1737-1816), a disillusioned Christian
historian and one-time Bishop of Llandaff in Wales (1782), referred to them as
"a set of gibbering idiots" (An Apology for Christianity, 1776, 1796
reprint; also, Theological Tracts, Dr Richard Watson, "On Councils" entry, vol.
2, London, 1786, revised reprint 1791). From his extensive research into Church
councils, Dr Watson concluded that "the clergy at the Council of Nicaea were all
under the power of the devil, and the convention was composed of the lowest
rabble and patronized the vilest abominations" (An Apology for Christianity, op.
cit.). It was that infantile body of men who were responsible for the
commencement of a new religion and the theological creation of Jesus
Christ.
The Church admits that vital elements of the proceedings at Nicaea are
"strangely absent from the canons" (Catholic Encyclopedia, Farley ed., vol. iii,
p. 160). We shall see shortly what happened to them. However, according to
records that endured, Eusebius "occupied the first seat on the right of the
emperor and delivered the inaugural address on the emperor's behalf" (Catholic
Encyclopedia, Farley ed., vol. v, pp. 619-620). There were no British presbyters
at the council but many Greek delegates. "Seventy Eastern bishops" represented
Asiatic factions, and small numbers came from other areas (Ecclesiastical
History, ibid.). Caecilian of Carthage travelled from Africa, Paphnutius of
Thebes from Egypt, Nicasius of Die (Dijon) from Gaul, and Donnus of Stridon made
the journey from Pannonia. It was at that puerile assembly, and with so many
cults represented, that a total of 318 "bishops, priests, deacons, subdeacons,
acolytes and exorcists" gathered to debate and decide upon a unified belief
system that encompassed only one god (An Apology for Christianity, op. cit.).
By this time, a huge assortment of "wild texts"
(Catholic Encyclopedia, New Edition, "Gospel and Gospels") circulated amongst
presbyters and they supported a great variety of Eastern and Western gods and
goddesses: Jove, Jupiter, Salenus, Baal, Thor, Gade, Apollo, Juno, Aries,
Taurus, Minerva, Rhets, Mithra, Theo, Fragapatti, Atys, Durga, Indra, Neptune,
Vulcan, Kriste, Agni, Croesus, Pelides, Huit, Hermes, Thulis, Thammus, Eguptus,
Iao, Aph, Saturn, Gitchens, Minos, Maximo, Hecla and Phernes (God's Book of
Eskra, anon., ch. xlviii, paragraph 36).
Up until the First Council of Nicaea, the Roman aristocracy primarily worshipped
two Greek gods-Apollo and Zeus-but the great bulk of common people idolized
either Julius Caesar or Mithras (the Romanized version of the Persian deity
Mithra). Caesar was deified by the Roman Senate after his death (15 March 44 BC)
and subsequently venerated as "the Divine Julius".
The word "Saviour" was affixed to his name, its literal meaning being "one who
sows the seed", i.e., he was a phallic god. Julius Caesar was hailed as "God
made manifest and universal Saviour of human life", and his successor Augustus
was called the "ancestral God and Saviour of the whole human race" (Man and his
Gods, Homer Smith, Little, Brown & Co., Boston, 1952). Emperor Nero (54-68),
whose original name was Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus (37-68), was immortalised on
his coins as the "Saviour of mankind" (ibid.). The Divine Julius as Roman
Saviour and "Father of the Empire" was considered "God" among the Roman rabble
for more than 300 years. He was the deity in some Western presbyters' texts, but
was not recognised in Eastern or Oriental writings.
Constantine's intention at Nicaea was to create an entirely new god for his
empire who would unite all religious factions under one deity. Presbyters were
asked to debate and decide who their new god would be. Delegates argued among
themselves, expressing personal motives for inclusion of particular writings
that promoted the finer traits of their own special deity. Throughout the
meeting, howling factions were immersed in heated debates, and the names of 53
gods were tabled for discussion. "As yet, no God had been selected by the
council, and so they balloted in order to determine that matter... For one year
and five months the balloting lasted..." (God's Book of Eskra, Prof. S. L.
MacGuire's translation, Salisbury, 1922, chapter xlviii, paragraphs 36, 41).
At the end of that time, Constantine returned to the gathering to discover that
the presbyters had not agreed on a new deity but had balloted down to a
shortlist of five prospects: Caesar, Krishna, Mithra, Horus and Zeus (Historia
Ecclesiastica, Eusebius, c. 325). Constantine was the ruling spirit at Nicaea
and he ultimately decided upon a new god for them. To involve British factions,
he ruled that the name of the great Druid god, Hesus, be joined with the Eastern
Saviour-god, Krishna (Krishna is Sanskrit for Christ), and thus Hesus Krishna
would be the official name of the new Roman god.
A vote was taken and it was with a majority show of hands (161 votes to 157)
that both divinities became one God.
Following longstanding heathen custom,
Constantine used the official gathering and the Roman apotheosis decree to
legally deify two deities as one, and did so by democratic consent. A new god
was proclaimed and "officially" ratified by Constantine (Acta Concilii Nicaeni,
1618). That purely political act of deification effectively and legally placed
Hesus and Krishna among the Roman gods as one individual composite. That
abstraction lent Earthly existence to amalgamated doctrines for the Empire's new
religion; and because there was no letter "J" in alphabets until around the
ninth century, the name subsequently evolved into "Jesus Christ".
How the Gospels were created
Constantine then instructed Eusebius to organize the compilation of a uniform
collection of new writings developed from primary aspects of the religious texts
submitted at the council. His instructions were:
"Search ye these books, and whatever is good in them, that retain; but
whatsoever is evil, that cast away. What is good in one book, unite ye with that
which is good in another book. And whatsoever is thus brought together shall be
called The Book of Books. And it shall be the doctrine of my people, which I
will recommend unto all nations, that there shall be no more war for religions'
sake."
(God's Book of Eskra, op. cit., chapter xlviii, paragraph 31)
"Make them to astonish" said Constantine, and "the books were written
accordingly" (Life of Constantine, vol. iv, pp. 36-39). Eusebius amalgamated the
"legendary tales of all the religious doctrines of the world together as one",
using the standard god-myths from the presbyters' manuscripts as his exemplars.
Merging the supernatural "god" stories of Mithra and Krishna with British
Culdean beliefs effectively joined the orations of Eastern and Western
presbyters together "to form a new universal belief" (ibid.). Constantine
believed that the amalgamated collection of myths would unite variant and
opposing religious factions under one representative story.
Eusebius then
arranged for scribes to produce "fifty sumptuous copies ... to be written on
parchment in a legible manner, and in a convenient portable form, by
professional scribes thoroughly accomplished in their art" (ibid.). "These
orders," said Eusebius, "were followed by the immediate execution of the work
itself ... we sent him [Constantine] magnificently and elaborately bound volumes
of three-fold and four-fold forms" (Life of Constantine, vol. iv, p. 36). They
were the "New Testimonies", and this is the first mention (c. 331) of the New
Testament in the historical record.
With his instructions fulfilled, Constantine then decreed that the New
Testimonies would thereafter be called the "word of the Roman Saviour God" (Life
of Constantine, vol. iii, p. 29) and official to all presbyters sermonising in
the Roman Empire. He then ordered earlier presbyterial manuscripts and the
records of the council "burnt" and declared that "any man found concealing
writings should be stricken off from his shoulders" (beheaded) (ibid.). As the
record shows, presbyterial writings previous to the Council of Nicaea no longer
exist, except for some fragments that have survived.
Some council records also survived, and they provide alarming ramifications for
the Church. Some old documents say that the First Council of Nicaea ended in
mid-November 326, while others say the struggle to establish a god was so fierce
that it extended "for four years and seven months" from its beginning in June
325 (Secrets of the Christian Fathers, op. cit.). Regardless of when it ended,
the savagery and violence it encompassed were concealed under the glossy title
"Great and Holy Synod", assigned to the assembly by the Church in the 18th
century. Earlier Churchmen, however, expressed a different opinion.
The Second Council of Nicaea in 786-87 denounced the First Council of Nicaea as
"a synod of fools and madmen" and sought to annul "decisions passed by men with
troubled brains" (History of the Christian Church, H. H. Milman, DD, 1871). If
one chooses to read the records of the Second Nicaean Council and notes
references to "affrighted bishops" and the "soldiery" needed to "quell
proceedings", the "fools and madmen" declaration is surely an example of the pot
calling the kettle black.
Constantine died in 337 and his outgrowth of many now-called pagan beliefs into
a new religious system brought many converts. Later Church writers made him "the
great champion of Christianity" which he gave "legal status as the religion of
the Roman Empire" (Encyclopedia of the Roman Empire, Matthew Bunson, Facts on
File, New York, 1994, p. 86). Historical records reveal this to be incorrect,
for it was "self-interest" that led him to create Christianity (A Smaller
Classical Dictionary, J. M. Dent, London, 1910, p. 161). Yet it wasn't called
"Christianity" until the 15th century (How The Great Pan Died, Professor Edmond
S. Bordeaux [Vatican archivist], Mille Meditations, USA, MCMLXVIII, pp. 45-7).
Over the ensuing centuries, Constantine's New Testimonies were expanded upon,
"interpolations" were added and other writings included (Catholic Encyclopedia,
Farley ed., vol. vi, pp. 135-137; also, Pecci ed., vol. ii, pp. 121-122). For
example, in 397 John "golden-mouthed" Chrysostom restructured the writings of
Apollonius of Tyana, a first-century wandering sage, and made them part of the
New Testimonies (Secrets of the Christian Fathers, op. cit.). The Latinised name
for Apollonius is Paulus (A Latin-English Dictionary, J. T. White and J. E.
Riddle, Ginn & Heath, Boston, 1880), and the Church today calls those writings
the Epistles of Paul. Apollonius's personal attendant, Damis, an Assyrian
scribe, is Demis in the New Testament (2 Tim. 4:10).
The Church hierarchy knows the truth about the origin of its Epistles, for
Cardinal Bembo (d. 1547), secretary to Pope Leo X (d. 1521), advised his
associate, Cardinal Sadoleto, to disregard them, saying "put away these trifles,
for such absurdities do not become a man of dignity; they were introduced on the
scene later by a sly voice from heaven" (Cardinal Bembo: His Letters and
Comments on Pope Leo X, A. L. Collins, London, 1842 reprint).
The Church admits that the Epistles of Paul are forgeries, saying, "Even the
genuine Epistles were greatly interpolated to lend weight to the personal views
of their authors" (Catholic Encyclopedia, Farley ed., vol. vii, p. 645).
Likewise, St Jerome (d. 420) declared that the Acts of the Apostles, the fifth
book of the New Testament, was also "falsely written" ("The Letters of Jerome",
Library of the Fathers, Oxford Movement, 1833-45, vol. v, p. 445).
The shock discovery of an ancient Bible
The New Testament subsequently evolved into a fulsome piece of priesthood
propaganda, and the Church claimed it recorded the intervention of a divine
Jesus Christ into Earthly affairs. However, a spectacular discovery in a remote
Egyptian monastery revealed to the world the extent of later falsifications of
the Christian texts, themselves only an "assemblage of legendary tales" (Encyclopédie,
Diderot, 1759). On 4 February 1859, 346 leaves of an ancient codex were
discovered in the furnace room at St Catherine's monastery at Mt Sinai, and its
contents sent shockwaves through the Christian world.
Along with other old codices, it was scheduled to be burned in the kilns to
provide winter warmth for the inhabitants of the monastery. Written in Greek on
donkey skins, it carried both the Old and New Testaments, and later in time
archaeologists dated its composition to around the year 380. It was discovered
by Dr Constantin von Tischendorf (1815-1874), a brilliant and pious German
biblical scholar, and he called it the Sinaiticus, the Sinai Bible. Tischendorf
was a professor of theology who devoted his entire life to the study of New
Testament origins, and his desire to read all the ancient Christian texts led
him on the long, camel-mounted journey to St Catherine's Monastery.
During his lifetime, Tischendorf had access to other ancient Bibles unavailable
to the public, such as the Alexandrian (or Alexandrinus) Bible, believed to be
the second oldest Bible in the world. It was so named because in 1627 it was
taken from Alexandria to Britain and gifted to King Charles I (1600-49). Today
it is displayed alongside the world's oldest known Bible, the Sinaiticus, in the
British Library in London. During his research, Tischendorf had access to the
Vaticanus, the Vatican Bible, believed to be the third oldest in the world and
dated to the mid-sixth century (The Various Versions of the Bible, Dr Constantin
von Tischendorf, 1874, available in the British Library). It was locked away in
the Vatican's inner library.
Tischendorf asked if he could extract handwritten
notes, but his request was declined. However, when his guard took refreshment
breaks, Tischendorf wrote comparative narratives on the palm of his hand and
sometimes on his fingernails ("Are Our Gospels Genuine or Not?", Dr Constantin
von Tischendorf, lecture, 1869, available in the British Library).
Today, there are several other Bibles written in various languages during the
fifth and sixth centuries, examples being the Syriacus, the Cantabrigiensis (Bezae),
the Sarravianus and the Marchalianus.
A shudder of apprehension echoed through Christendom in the last quarter of the
19th century when English-language versions of the Sinai Bible were published.
Recorded within these pages is information that disputes Christianity's claim of
historicity. Christians were provided with irrefutable evidence of willful
falsifications in all modern New Testaments. So different was the Sinai Bible's
New Testament from versions then being published that the Church angrily tried
to annul the dramatic new evidence that challenged its very existence.
In a series of articles published in the London Quarterly Review in 1883, John
W. Burgon, Dean of Chichester, used every rhetorical device at his disposal to
attack the Sinaiticus' earlier and opposing story of Jesus Christ, saying that
"...without a particle of hesitation, the Sinaiticus is scandalously corrupt ...
exhibiting the most shamefully mutilated texts which are anywhere to be met
with; they have become, by whatever process, the depositories of the largest
amount of fabricated readings, ancient blunders and intentional perversions of
the truth which are discoverable in any known copies of the word of God". Dean
Burgon's concerns mirror opposing aspects of Gospel stories then current, having
by now evolved to a new stage through centuries of tampering with the fabric of
an already unhistorical document.
The revelations of ultraviolet light testing
In 1933, the British Museum in London purchased the Sinai Bible from the Soviet
government for £100,000, of which £65,000 was gifted by public subscription.
Prior to the acquisition, this Bible was displayed in the Imperial Library in St
Petersburg, Russia, and "few scholars had set eyes on it" (The Daily Telegraph
and Morning Post, 11 January 1938, p. 3). When it went on display in 1933 as
"the oldest Bible in the world" (ibid.), it became the centre of a pilgrimage
unequalled in the history of the British Museum.
Before I summarize its conflictions, it should be noted that this old codex is
by no means a reliable guide to New Testament study as it contains superabundant
errors and serious re-editing. These anomalies were exposed as a result of the
months of ultraviolet-light tests carried out at the British Museum in the
mid-1930s. The findings revealed replacements of numerous passages by at least
nine different editors. Photographs taken during testing revealed that ink
pigments had been retained deep in the pores of the skin. The original words
were readable under ultraviolet light.
Anybody wishing to read the results of the tests should refer to the book
written by the researchers who did the analysis: the Keepers of the Department
of Manuscripts at the British Museum (Scribes and Correctors of the Codex
Sinaiticus, H. J. M. Milne and T. C. Skeat, British Museum, London, 1938).
Forgery in the Gospels
When the New Testament in the Sinai Bible is compared with a modern-day New
Testament, a staggering 14,800 editorial alterations can be identified. These
amendments can be recognised by a simple comparative exercise that anybody can
and should do. Serious study of Christian origins must emanate from the Sinai
Bible's version of the New Testament, not modern editions.
Of importance is the fact that the Sinaiticus carries three Gospels since
rejected: the Shepherd of Hermas (written by two resurrected ghosts, Charinus
and Lenthius), the Missive of Barnabas and the Odes of Solomon. Space excludes
elaboration on these bizarre writings and also discussion on dilemmas associated
with translation variations.
Modern Bibles are five removes in translation from early editions, and disputes
rage between translators over variant interpretations of more than 5,000 ancient
words. However, it is what is not written in that old Bible that embarrasses the
Church, and this article discusses only a few of those omissions. One glaring
example is subtly revealed in the Encyclopaedia Biblica (Adam & Charles Black,
London, 1899, vol. iii, p. 3344), where the Church divulges its knowledge about
exclusions in old Bibles, saying: "The remark has long ago and often been made
that, like Paul, even the earliest Gospels knew nothing of the miraculous birth
of our Saviour". That is because there never was a virgin birth.
It is apparent that when Eusebius assembled scribes to write the New
Testimonies, he first produced a single document that provided an exemplar or
master version. Today it is called the Gospel of Mark, and the Church admits
that it was "the first Gospel written" (Catholic Encyclopedia, Farley ed., vol.
vi, p. 657), even though it appears second in the New Testament today. The
scribes of the Gospels of Matthew and Luke were dependent upon the Mark writing
as the source and framework for the compilation of their works. The Gospel of
John is independent of those writings, and the late-15th-century theory that it
was written later to support the earlier writings is the truth (The Crucifixion
of Truth, Tony Bushby, Joshua Books, 2004, pp. 33-40).
Thus, the Gospel of Mark in the Sinai Bible carries the "first" story of Jesus
Christ in history, one completely different to what is in modern Bibles. It
starts with Jesus "at about the age of thirty" (Mark 1:9), and doesn't know of
Mary, a virgin birth or mass murders of baby boys by Herod. Words describing
Jesus Christ as "the son of God" do not appear in the opening narrative as they
do in today's editions (Mark 1:1), and the modern-day family tree tracing a
"messianic bloodline" back to King David is non-existent in all ancient Bibles,
as are the now-called "messianic prophecies" (51 in total). The Sinai Bible
carries a conflicting version of events surrounding the "raising of Lazarus",
and reveals an extraordinary omission that later became the central doctrine of
the Christian faith: the resurrection appearances of Jesus Christ and his
ascension into Heaven. No supernatural appearance of a resurrected Jesus Christ
is recorded in any ancient Gospels of Mark, but a description of over 500 words
now appears in modern Bibles (Mark 16:9-20).
Despite a multitude of long-drawn-out self-justifications by Church apologists,
there is no unanimity of Christian opinion regarding the non-existence of
"resurrection" appearances in ancient Gospel accounts of the story. Not only are
those narratives missing in the Sinai Bible, but they are absent in the
Alexandrian Bible, the Vatican Bible, the Bezae Bible and an ancient Latin
manuscript of Mark, code-named "K" by analysts. They are also lacking in the
oldest Armenian version of the New Testament, in sixth-century manuscripts of
the Ethiopic version and ninth-century Anglo-Saxon Bibles. However, some
12th-century Gospels have the now-known resurrection verses written within
asterisks Ñ marks used by scribes to indicate spurious passages in a literary
document.
The Church claims that "the resurrection is the fundamental argument for our
Christian belief" (Catholic Encyclopedia, Farley ed., vol. xii, p. 792), yet no
supernatural appearance of a resurrected Jesus Christ is recorded in any of the
earliest Gospels of Mark available. A resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ
is the sine qua non ("without which, nothing") of Christianity (Catholic
Encyclopedia, Farley ed., vol. xii, p. 792), confirmed by words attributed to
Paul: "If Christ has not been raised, your faith is in vain" (1 Cor. 5:17). The
resurrection verses in today's Gospels of Mark are universally acknowledged as
forgeries and the Church agrees, saying "the conclusion of Mark is admittedly
not genuine ... almost the entire section is a later compilation" (Encyclopaedia
Biblica, vol. ii, p. 1880, vol. iii, pp. 1767, 1781; also, Catholic
Encyclopedia, vol. iii, under the heading "The Evidence of its Spuriousness";
Catholic Encyclopedia, Farley ed., vol. iii, pp. 274-9 under heading "Canons").
Undaunted, however, the Church accepted the forgery into its dogma and made it
the basis of Christianity.
The trend of fictitious resurrection narratives continues. The final chapter of
the Gospel of John (21) is a sixth-century forgery, one entirely devoted to
describing Jesus' resurrection to his disciples. The Church admits: "The sole
conclusion that can be deduced from this is that the 21st chapter was afterwards
added and is therefore to be regarded as an appendix to the Gospel" (Catholic
Encyclopedia, Farley ed., vol. viii, pp. 441-442; New Catholic Encyclopedia (NCE),
"Gospel of John", p. 1080; also NCE, vol. xii, p. 407).
"The Great Insertion" and "The Great Omission"
Modern-day versions of the Gospel of Luke have a staggering 10,000 more words
than the same Gospel in the Sinai Bible. Six of those words say of Jesus "and
was carried up into heaven", but this narrative does not appear in any of the
oldest Gospels of Luke available today ("Three Early Doctrinal Modifications of
the Text of the Gospels", F. C. Conybeare, The Hibbert Journal, London, vol. 1,
no. 1, Oct 1902, pp. 96-113). Ancient versions do not verify modern-day accounts
of an ascension of Jesus Christ, and this falsification clearly indicates an
intention to deceive.
Today, the Gospel of Luke is the longest of the canonical Gospels because it now
includes "The Great Insertion", an extraordinary 15th-century addition totalling
around 8,500 words (Luke 9:51-18:14). The insertion of these forgeries into that
Gospel bewilders modern Christian analysts, and of them the Church said: "The
character of these passages makes it dangerous to draw inferences" (Catholic
Encyclopedia, Pecci ed., vol. ii, p. 407).
Just as remarkable, the oldest Gospels of Luke omit all verses from 6:45 to
8:26, known in priesthood circles as "The Great Omission", a total of 1,547
words. In today's versions, that hole has been "plugged up" with passages
plagiarised from other Gospels. Dr Tischendorf found that three paragraphs in
newer versions of the Gospel of Luke's version of the Last Supper appeared in
the 15th century, but the Church still passes its Gospels off as the
unadulterated "word of God" ("Are Our Gospels Genuine or Not?", op. cit.)
The "Expurgatory Index"
As was the case with the New Testament, so also were damaging writings of early
"Church Fathers" modified in centuries of copying, and many of their records
were intentionally rewritten or suppressed.
Adopting the decrees of the Council of Trent (1545-63), the Church subsequently
extended the process of erasure and ordered the preparation of a special list of
specific information to be expunged from early Christian writings (Delineation
of Roman Catholicism, Rev. Charles Elliott, DD, G. Lane & P. P. Sandford, New
York, 1842, p. 89; also, The Vatican Censors, Professor Peter Elmsley, Oxford,
p. 327, pub. date n/a).
In 1562, the Vatican established a special censoring office called Index
Expurgatorius. Its purpose was to prohibit publication of "erroneous passages of
the early Church Fathers" that carried statements opposing modern-day doctrine.
When Vatican archivists came across "genuine copies of the Fathers, they
corrected them according to the Expurgatory Index" (Index Expurgatorius
Vaticanus, R. Gibbings, ed., Dublin, 1837; The Literary Policy of the Church of
Rome, Joseph Mendham, J. Duncan, London, 1830, 2nd ed., 1840; The Vatican
Censors, op. cit., p. 328). This Church record provides researchers with "grave
doubts about the value of all patristic writings released to the public" (The
Propaganda Press of Rome, Sir James W. L. Claxton, Whitehaven Books, London,
1942, p. 182).
Important for our story is the fact that the Encyclopaedia Biblica reveals that
around 1,200 years of Christian history are unknown: "Unfortunately, only few of
the records [of the Church] prior to the year 1198 have been released". It was
not by chance that, in that same year (1198), Pope Innocent III (1198-1216)
suppressed all records of earlier Church history by establishing the Secret
Archives (Catholic Encyclopedia, Farley ed., vol. xv, p. 287). Some
seven-and-a-half centuries later, and after spending some years in those
Archives, Professor Edmond S. Bordeaux wrote, How The Great Pan Died.
In a chapter titled "The Whole of Church History is Nothing but a Retroactive
Fabrication", he said this (in part):
"The Church ante-dated all her late works, some newly made, some revised and
some counterfeited, which contained the final expression of her history ... her
technique was to make it appear that much later works written by Church writers
were composed a long time earlier, so that they might become evidence of the
first, second or third centuries."
(How The Great Pan Died, op. cit., p. 46)
Supporting Professor Bordeaux's findings is the fact that, in 1587, Pope Sixtus
V (1585-90) established an official Vatican publishing division and said in his
own words, "Church history will be now be established ... we shall seek to print
our own account" Encyclopédie, Diderot, 1759). Vatican records also reveal that
Sixtus V spent 18 months of his life as pope personally writing a new Bible and
then introduced into Catholicism a "New Learning" (Catholic Encyclopedia, Farley
ed., vol. v, p. 442, vol. xv, p. 376). The evidence that the Church wrote its
own history is found in Diderot's Encyclopédie, and it reveals the reason why
Pope Clement XIII (1758-69) ordered all volumes to be destroyed immediately
after publication in 1759.
Gospel authors exposed as imposters
There is something else involved in this scenario and it is recorded in the
Catholic Encyclopedia. An appreciation of the clerical mindset arises when the
Church itself admits that it does not know who wrote its Gospels and Epistles,
confessing that all 27 New Testament writings began life anonymously:
"It thus appears that the present titles of the Gospels are not traceable to the
evangelists themselves ... they [the New Testament collection] are supplied with
titles which, however ancient, do not go back to the respective authors of those
writings." (Catholic Encyclopedia, Farley ed., vol. vi, pp. 655-6)
The Church maintains that "the titles of our Gospels were not intended to
indicate authorship", adding that "the headings ... were affixed to them"
(Catholic Encyclopedia, Farley ed., vol. i, p. 117, vol. vi, pp. 655, 656).
Therefore they are not Gospels written "according to Matthew, Mark, Luke or
John", as publicly stated. The full force of this confession reveals that there
are no genuine apostolic Gospels, and that the Church's shadowy writings today
embody the very ground and pillar of Christian foundations and faith. The
consequences are fatal to the pretence of Divine origin of the entire New
Testament and expose Christian texts as having no special authority. For
centuries, fabricated Gospels bore Church certification of authenticity now
confessed to be false, and this provides evidence that Christian writings are
wholly fallacious.
After years of dedicated New Testament research, Dr Tischendorf expressed dismay
at the differences between the oldest and newest Gospels, and had trouble
understanding...
"...how scribes could allow themselves to bring in here and there changes which
were not simply verbal ones, but such as materially affected the very meaning
and, what is worse still, did not shrink from cutting out a passage or inserting
one."
(Alterations to the Sinai Bible, Dr Constantin von Tischendorf, 1863, available
in the British Library, London)
After years of validating the fabricated nature of the New Testament, a
disillusioned Dr Tischendorf confessed that modern-day editions have "been
altered in many places" and are "not to be accepted as true" (When Were Our
Gospels Written?, Dr Constantin von Tischendorf, 1865, British Library, London).
Just what is Christianity?
The important question then to ask is this: if the New Testament is not
historical, what is it?
Dr Tischendorf provided part of the answer when he said in his 15,000 pages of
critical notes on the Sinai Bible that "it seems that the personage of Jesus
Christ was made narrator for many religions". This explains how narratives from
the ancient Indian epic, the Mahabharata, appear verbatim in the Gospels today
(e.g., Matt. 1:25, 2:11, 8:1-4, 9:1-8, 9:18-26), and why passages from the
Phenomena of the Greek statesman Aratus of Sicyon (271-213 BC) are in the New
Testament.
Extracts from the Hymn to Zeus, written by Greek philosopher Cleanthes (c.
331-232 BC), are also found in the Gospels, as are 207 words from the Thais of
Menander (c. 343-291), one of the "seven wise men" of Greece. Quotes from the
semi-legendary Greek poet Epimenides (7th or 6th century BC) are applied to the
lips of Jesus Christ, and seven passages from the curious Ode of Jupiter (c. 150
BC; author unknown) are reprinted in the New Testament.
Tischendorf's conclusion also supports Professor Bordeaux's Vatican findings
that reveal the allegory of Jesus Christ derived from the fable of Mithra, the
divine son of God (Ahura Mazda) and messiah of the first kings of the Persian
Empire around 400 BC. His birth in a grotto was attended by magi who followed a
star from the East. They brought "gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh" (as in
Matt. 2:11) and the newborn baby was adored by shepherds. He came into the world
wearing the Mithraic cap, which popes imitated in various designs until well
into the 15th century.
Mithra, one of a trinity, stood on a rock, the emblem of the foundation of his
religion, and was anointed with honey. After a last supper with Helios and 11
other companions, Mithra was crucified on a cross, bound in linen, placed in a
rock tomb and rose on the third day or around 25 March (the full moon at the
spring equinox, a time now called Easter after the Babylonian goddess Ishtar).
The fiery destruction of the universe was a major doctrine of Mithraism-a time
in which Mithra promised to return in person to Earth and save deserving souls.
Devotees of Mithra partook in a sacred communion banquet of bread and wine, a
ceremony that paralleled the Christian Eucharist and preceded it by more than
four centuries. Christianity is an adaptation of Mithraism welded with the Druidic principles of
the Culdees, some Egyptian elements (the pre-Christian Book of Revelation was
originally called The Mysteries of Osiris and Isis), Greek philosophy and
various aspects of Hinduism.
Why there are no records of Jesus Christ
It is not possible to find in any legitimate religious or historical writings
compiled between the beginning of the first century and well into the fourth
century any reference to Jesus Christ and the spectacular events that the Church
says accompanied his life. This confirmation comes from Frederic Farrar
(1831-1903) of Trinity College, Cambridge:
"It is amazing that history has not embalmed for us even one certain or definite
saying or circumstance in the life of the Saviour of mankind ... there is no
statement in all history that says anyone saw Jesus or talked with him. Nothing
in history is more astonishing than the silence of contemporary writers about
events relayed in the four Gospels."
(The Life of Christ, Frederic W. Farrar, Cassell, London, 1874)
This situation arises from a conflict between history and New Testament
narratives. Dr Tischendorf made this comment:
"We must frankly admit that we have no source of information with respect to the
life of Jesus Christ other than ecclesiastic writings assembled during the
fourth century."
(Codex Sinaiticus, Dr Constantin von Tischendorf, British Library, London)
There is an explanation for those hundreds of years of silence: the construct of
Christianity did not begin until after the first quarter of the fourth century,
and that is why Pope Leo X (d. 1521) called Christ a "fable" (Cardinal Bembo:
His Letters..., op. cit.).
About the Author:
Tony Bushby, an Australian, became a businessman and entrepreneur early in his
adult life. He established a magazine-publishing business and spent 20 years
researching, writing and publishing his own magazines, primarily for the
Australian and New Zealand markets.
With strong spiritual beliefs and an interest in metaphysical subjects, Tony has
developed long relationships with many associations and societies throughout the
world that have assisted his research by making their archives available. He is
the author of The Bible Fraud (2001; reviewed in NEXUS 8/06 with extracts in
NEXUS 9/0103), The Secret in the Bible (2003; reviewed in 11/02, with extract,
"Ancient Cities under the Sands of Giza", in 11/03) and The Crucifixion of Truth
(2005; reviewed in 12/02) and The Twin Deception (2007; reviewed 14/03). Copies
of these books are available from the NEXUS website and the Joshua Books website
http://www.joshuabooks.com/.
As Tony Bushby vigorously protects his privacy, any correspondence should be
sent to him care of NEXUS Magazine, PO Box 30, Mapleton Qld 4560, Australia, fax
+61 (0) 7 5442 9381.
Also see: THE MYTH
OF THE HISTORICAL JESUS