the first three centuries AD
Easter was THE important Christian festival. St. Paul said, “If Christ be not risen, then is your faith vain.” A key purpose to the Council of Nicaea was to set the date of Easter (as calendars in those days had insufficient leap years to prevent the spring equinox from sliding in March towards February). The festival of …
What is blood? What requirements were there in Jewish traditions for a blood sacrifice? What does it mean that Christ’s blood was shed? Where did this blood go? What did Joseph of Arimathea collect in the Grail? How does this affect us today? To begin this study, we’ll go to Leviticus 16 where we read …
Last blog, we looked at the meaning of the inscription INRI that Pontius Pilate wrote on a plaque and had placed on the cross above the head of Jesus. Who was this governor of Judea? To answer this, we should review an apocryphal book entitled the Acts of Pilate. Here is a letter from Pilate to …
Something that most historians miss is the role that the Ancient Mysteries had in the ease of the spread of Christianity. After the event of Whitsun, some of the disciples and those with them began missions to spread Christianity. Where did they go? They went to the Mystery Centers throughout the world. There the initiates …
Read more “What Role Did the Ancient Mysteries Play for Early Christianity?”
Normally I hate to quote so much but this time it is important to set the scene as described in Matthew chapter 27: “And when they had bound Him, they led Him away and delivered Him to Pontius Pilate, the governor. … And Jesus stood before the governor, and the governor asked Him, saying, “Art …
In a conversation today, the Goddess Ishtar was mentioned. Her rites, it was suggested, may be a possible forerunner to the Easter bunny and egg festival. I looked up Ishtar and found this interesting passage in Wikipedia: (keep in mind Ishtar is an immortal, Gilgamesh is a hero but a mortal). Ishtar in the Epic of …
The Greek Mysteries are the most visible to historians but all cultures had their own Mystery Center(s). Well known are many the leaders of Greek Mystery Centers such as Pythagoras and Heraclitus. And well known are the mystery centers Cabeiri on the islands of Lemnos, and Eleusis in west Attica, about 12 miles from Athens. …
The Temple in Jerusalem during the time of Jesus was no longer Solomon’s Temple. and it was no longer the Second Temple built by Zerubbabel after The Captivity in Babylon. An inspiration from the arch-angel Michael (known then as Marduk in those Persian times) had moved Cyrus the Great to free the Jews to return to their …
A complex person and emperor of Rome, Julian’s biographers have described him as “a man of unusually complex character: he was ‘the military commander, the theosophist, the social reformer, and the man of letters’. He was the last non-Christian ruler of the Roman Empire, and it was his desire to bring the Empire back to its …
The following passage from Paul’s Letter to the Romans is about the fulfillment of the Mosaic Law through Christ-Jesus. Below I offer an explanation of what this letter means. 1 Know ye not, brethren, (for I speak to them that know the law,) how that the law hath dominion over a man as long as …