DRAFT
On Heresies and Heretics:
A Quick Summary of Heresies and Grave sins since the Pharonic
Age to this day Covering Ancient Egyptian Religion, Judaism,
Christianity and Islam
William A, Hanna; Ph.D.EE
St. Louis, Missouri 63011 USA
22 October, 2004
Preliminary Edition:
©2004 Copyright 2004; All rights reserved; copying or distribution
for financial gain is prohibited
©2004; Copyright 2004 William A. Hanna, Ph.D.EE; St. Louis, MO 63011; USA
Page iii
Table of Contents
Page
Table of Contents........................................................................................................................... iv
On Heresies and Heretics:............................................................................................................... 2
A Quick Summary of Heresies and Grave sins since the Pharonic Age to this day Covering
Ancient Egyptian Religion, Judaism, Christianity and Islam ......................................................... 2
1
Introduction:............................................................................................................................ 2
1.1
The Heresy of Nicholaus: ............................................................................................... 3
1.1.1
Recent times Parallel: ............................................................................................. 3
1.2
Simon the Magician: ....................................................................................................... 3
1.3
Gnostics, Agnostics (Aghnostics):.................................................................................. 4
2. Old Heresies:........................................................................................................................... 6
2.1
Ancient Egyptian Religion(s) ......................................................................................... 6
2.2
The Revolt (Heresy) of Aknaton: ................................................................................... 7
2.3
The Hebrew Religion (Judaism): .................................................................................... 7
2.4
The Heresy of Aaron (The Golden Calf): ....................................................................... 9
2.5
The Priesthood of Aaron............................................................................................... 11
2.6
The Heresy of the Sons of Aaron (Nadab and Abihu).................................................. 11
2.7
Worship of other Gods.................................................................................................. 12
2.8
The Blessings of Obedience.......................................................................................... 13
2.9
The Curses of disobedience .......................................................................................... 14
2.10 The Law Ordained by God and Delivered by Moses the Arch-prophet (The 10
Commandments) ....................................................................................................................... 16
2.11
The Heresy of Miriam and Aaron................................................................................ 17
2.12
The Rebellion of the whole Israelite Nation is Heresy:............................................... 18
2.13
The Rebellion of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram is a Heresy .......................................... 20
2.14
The Donkey of Balaam prevents him from committing heresy:.................................. 21
2.15
The Sin (Heresy) of Achan Ibn Karmi......................................................................... 22
2.16 Minor Infractions are also Heresies (The Altar by the Jordan) .................................... 23
3. Other Heresies in Old Jewish History................................................................................... 25
3.1
Abimalek Conspiracy.................................................................................................... 25
3.2
Samson's Sin (Heresy) .................................................................................................. 25
3.3
Gibeah's Crime.............................................................................................................. 27
3.4
The Kings of Israel and what they brought................................................................... 28
3.5
The Sons of Ali the High Priest .................................................................................... 28
3.6
King Saul ...................................................................................................................... 29
3.6.1.
Consulting a Common Spirit?............................................................................... 29
3.7
King David.................................................................................................................... 29
3.8
King Solomon ............................................................................................................... 31
3.9
King Rehboam .............................................................................................................. 32
3.10 King Ahab and Queen Jezebel (Isabel)......................................................................... 32
3.10.1 The Vineyard of Nabot the Jezreel: ...................................................................... 33
4. The Christian Age and Heresies ........................................................................................... 35
4.1
Summary of Church Schisms: ...................................................................................... 41
4.2
The heresy of Paul of Samoosta.................................................................................... 43
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4.3
The Heresy of the People of Bani-Omar....................................................................... 44
4.4
Arios and the Heresy of Arios: ..................................................................................... 45
4.4.1
The Meetings of the Council of Nicea:................................................................. 49
4.4.3
The Creed of Orthodox Faith................................................................................ 52
4.4.4.
The Five Exiles of St. Athanasius:........................................................................ 53
4.5
The Heresies of Macedonius, Appolinarius, and Aphodius ......................................... 57
4.6
The Heresy of Macedonius ........................................................................................... 58
4.7
The Heresy of Appolinarius.......................................................................................... 58
4.8
The Heresy of Aphodius ............................................................................................... 59
4.9
North African Dispute................................................................................................... 59
4.10 The Dispute Concerning the Writings of Origen.......................................................... 59
4.11 The Dispute Concerning John Chrysostom .................................................................. 59
4.12 The Heresy of Nestor: The Council of Ephesus, 431 AD............................................. 60
4.12.1. The Council at Ephesus in 431 AD also introduced 8 cannons; the 8th was worded
as follows: ............................................................................................................................. 63
4.12.2. An Infamous Controversy between the Church of Alexandria and the Church of
Antioch Follows:................................................................................................................... 64
4.12.3 Sending the Final Proceeding of the Council of Ephesus to the Emperor:........... 64
4.12.4. Nestor on the Way to Exile................................................................................... 67
4.13 The Heresy of Eutycha (Monophycism)....................................................................... 67
4.14 Catholic Heresies Committed after 451 AD: ................................................................ 68
4.14.1 The Two Natures, Two Wills Heresy ................................................................... 68
4.14.2 The Procession of the Holy Spirit (The Felocia Issue):........................................ 70
4.14.3 The Nature of the Birth of the Holy Virgin Mary:................................................ 70
4.14.4 Indulgences and Writs of Forgiveness:................................................................. 70
4.14.5 The Use of Engraved Images for Church Decoration:.......................................... 71
4.14.6 Baptism by Sprinkling of Water:........................................................................... 71
4.14.7
The Use of unleavened Bread for the Bread of the Service:................................. 71
4.14.8
Purgatory ("Mathaar") .......................................................................................... 71
4.14.9. The Supremacy of Peter:....................................................................................... 72
4.15 The Schism of 1054 AD (The Great Schism)............................................................... 72
4.16 The Protestant Movement is Considered Heresy.......................................................... 73
5. Modern Heresies and Cults................................................................................................... 75
5.1
Jehovah Witness............................................................................................................ 75
5.2
Seventh Day Adventists................................................................................................ 77
5.3
Church of Christ of Later Day Saints, Mormons.......................................................... 78
5.4
Christian Science .......................................................................................................... 79
5.5
Scientology ................................................................................................................... 80
5.6
Wahabis: Mohammad Ibn Abdul Wahab (1703-1792) ................................................ 80
5.7
Bahaii Faith................................................................................................................... 85
5.8
The Reverend Son Myung Moon"Unity of Sciences" Cult .......................................... 86
5.9
The Jim Jones Cult........................................................................................................ 89
5.10 Branch Davidian (David Koresh) Cult ......................................................................... 91
6. Islam:..................................................................................................................................... 93
6.1
Omar's Decree (The biggest human rights violation in history)................................... 95
6.2
Omar's Decree: Status of 'ahl-alzema' Dhimmis (Protected) ....................................... 96
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6.3
The Latter Days: ........................................................................................................... 97
6.4
The Chapters ('souras') of the Koran............................................................................. 99
6.5
Hadith (Sayings of the Prophet):................................................................................. 101
6.6
Branches of Islam ....................................................................................................... 101
6.6.1
The Sunnis ("traditionalists").............................................................................. 101
6.6.2
Shiite ("Partisan') Moslems................................................................................. 102
6.6.3
The Sufis (mystics) ............................................................................................. 103
6.6.4
The Nation of Islam ("Black Muslims") ............................................................ 103
6.7
Modern Islam:............................................................................................................. 105
7. Concluding Remarks:.......................................................................................................... 107
8. References:.......................................................................................................................... 108
©2004; Copyright 2004 William A. Hanna, Ph.D.EE; St. Louis, MO 63011; USA
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On Heresies and Heretics:
A Quick Summary of Heresies and Grave sins since the
Pharonic Age to this day Covering Ancient Egyptian Religion,
Judaism, Christianity and Islam
1 Introduction:
Heresies plague all religions. Heretics for the most part are misguided faithful who fall in heresy
because out of false zeal and/or evil pride they try to interpret doctrine they do not fully
understand. This is the case for Nicholaus, Arios, Nestor, Eutycha, Bohaira, etc.
When they are confronted with the truth, they try to justify their misguided behavior either by
avoiding the argument or by the use of double-speak; i.e. they would agree and disagree with the
opposing view both at the same time; examples are the arguments Arios used in defending
himself before and after the Council of Nicea in 325 AD. The same was evident in the arguments
of Eutycha in defending himself at the second Ephesus Council attended by between 200 and
600 bishops. And later on his cowering back and retracting his previous statements in the
opening of the council of Chalcedon, 451 AD.
To start with, we return to some Biblical verses admonishing the Christians from following false
teachings, and false prophets:
Be Steadfast
14
Therefore, beloved, looking forward to these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace,
without spot and blameless; 15and consider that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation--as also
our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, has written to you, 16as also in
all his epistles, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand,
which untaught and unstable people twist to their own destruction, as they do also the rest of the
Scriptures. (2 Peter 3:14-16)
Here Peter is warning against people untaught and unstable that take things they do not
understand and twist them for their own destruction, and of course the destruction of those who
follow them.
Matthew 24:24
For false christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if
possible, even the elect.
(Whole Chapter: Matthew 24 In context: Matthew 24:23-25)
Mark 13:22
For false christs and false prophets will rise and show signs and wonders to deceive, if possible,
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even the elect.
(Whole Chapter: Mark 13 In context: Mark 13:21-23)
Here the warning is from our Lord, God and Savior Jesus Christ about the coming of false
prophets (prophesying) and false Christs preaching a message other than what the Lord taught us
through the Gospels and the Epistles of His Holy Disciples and Apostles.
"Though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we
have preached unto you, let him be accursed" (Galatians 1:8).Were the words of St. Paul
to the believers not to follow false teachings.
1.1
The Heresy of Nicholaus:
According to the fathers of the Church, Nicholaus was one of the seven deacons appointed by the
Apostles as mentioned in the Book of Acts:
Seven Chosen to Serve
1
Now in those days, when the number of the disciples was multiplying, there arose a complaint
against the Hebrews by the Hellenists,[1] because their widows were neglected in the daily
distribution. 2Then the twelve summoned the multitude of the disciples and said, "It is not
desirable that we should leave the word of God and serve tables. 3Therefore, brethren, seek out
from among you seven men of good reputation, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom, whom we
may appoint over this business; (Acts 6:1-3)
Nicholaus started a heresy by encouraging the believers to commit sin, so they can repent and be
forgiven through the gift of repentance. The Book of Revelation mentions his fallen way, but
does not give the details of his acts, it is through the writings of the fathers of the Church that we
know what was the reason of the falling of Nicholaus and his followers whom the Apostle St.
John despised.
6
But you have this in your favor: You hate the practices of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.
(Revelation 2:6). So this heresy was very early in church history, before 95 AD; the date that was
associated with the book of Revelation. Other heretics in the early Christian Church defined here
as less than 100 years after Christ includes: Simon the magician, Demas the disciple of St. Paul,
and Nicholaus the deacon.
The practice referred to is to sin intentionally to receive repentance
1.1.1 Recent times Parallel:
The Russian Monk Rasputin did the same thing during the time of the last Russian Czar. It
brought destruction to him personally, and to the Czarist rule who was deposed by Communism
and executed he and his family, except for a few who escaped.
1.2
Simon the Magician:
He came to Peter when he saw the wonders and miracles the Disciples of Christ were
performing and wanted to buy the gift of the Holy Spirit with money. This was not possible and
St. Peter rebuked him. From hence the expression: "Simonia" in the eastern church was coined. It
©2004; Copyright 2004 William A. Hanna, Ph.D.EE; St. Louis, MO 63011; USA
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refers to anyone that sells or buys the gifts of the Holy Spirit such as obtaining the priesthood by
paying a hierarch (Bishop, Archbishop, Metropolitan, Patriarch, or the Pope) to be ordained.
Demas a Fallen Companion of the Apostle Paul:
We learn very little about Demas from the epistle of Paul to Colossians where he was in and to
Timothy where he is no longer serving with the Apostles.
Colossians 4:14
Luke, the beloved physician, and Demas, greet you.
(Whole Chapter: Colossians 4 In context: Colossians 4:13-15)
2 Timothy 4:10
For Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world, and is departed unto
Thessalonica; Crescens to Galatia, Titus unto Dalmatia.
(Whole Chapter: 2 Timothy 4 In context: 2 Timothy 4:9-11)
Philemon 1:24
Marcus, Aristarchus, Demas, Lucas, my fellowlabourers.
(Whole Chapter: Philemon 1 In context: Philemon 1:23-25)
This tells that at one point Demas was a disciple and fellow servant of St. Paul. It also tells us
that he departed because he loved the things of the world more than his love and dedication to
the message of salvation through Christ.
1.3
Gnostics, Agnostics (Aghnostics):
Gnostics comes from the Greek verb gnosis (to know) is a movement that started during the
Early Christian Age, claiming that man is enlightened through knowledge. This knowledge
consists of good and evil, and without differentiation Gnostics accepted good and evil as two
equals, two gods if you will. One is ruled by the god (of the Christians) or some equal one since
they would refer to Michael, Gabriel, etc. as other gods. Evil is by his enemy (Satan) to be both
accepted and appeased. They then add that through mystical experiences such as long fasting,
suffering, and ascetic practices one learns more about himself and about the world around him
and the other worlds such as heaven and hell. This knowledge is what makes and enlightened
person.
The acceptance and tolerance of both good and bad makes it no different to call Christ god, son
of god, one of the gods or anything else. It also makes it acceptable to recognize the devil (Satan)
and appease him even worship him. The parallels of Gnosticism is the Hindu religion, and to
some extent Buddhism. The Gnostic concept appealed to many Christian leaders who wanted to
gain all the benefits of Christian faith but not limit themselves to rigid rules of Christianity. It
also appealed to followers of other major religions such as Judaism and Islam. Islamic Agnostics
would be the likes of Bahaais, and others in their way of belief that accepts all religions and evil
as well.
Here also the Karma becomes an easy explanation of everything. Karma simply means what is
ordained for one and is not possible for him to change. So, the Karma of one person is to be
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poor, while the Karma of another is to be rich. The Karma for one is to become very educated
and for another to be very ignorant. The Karma for one is to be very nice looking while the
Karma for another is to be very ugly, etc. Once one accepts what is pr-ordained the conflict
inside dissolves and one become in peace with self. The Gnostics trace themselves back to the
Greek (Hellenic) Culture and the Early Church. They for that matter accept many Christian
heretic writings as good and enlightening. Some examples of the Gnostic writings they accept
are "gospels" that have been rejected by the mainstream Christian churches as heresies (Not
according the proper teachings of Christ). The examples are many and include: The Gospel of
Barnabas, the Gospel of Thomas, the Gospel of Peter, the Gospel of the 12 Apostles, etc.
There is an American Gnostics Society with headquarters in Los Angeles, California. The
society publishes books and gives lectures around the country and has among its members some
highly regarded professors at some of the most prestigious universities, especially in theology
schools in North America and Europe. The Gnostic movement is almost non-existent in Islamic
countries and the Middle East because it contradicts the teachings of the three major religions:
Judaism, Christianity, and in particular it contradicts Islam. The Christian Church did not fight
Gnostics because they did not make a stand against it anywhere. They accept what Christianity
says plus more.
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2.
Old Heresies:
As you study the history of the world through the Bible and other historic records such as the
Ancient Egyptian (Pharonic) History recorded on the walls of the tombs and papyri preserved for
thousands of years, you see a main stream in Egyptian Worship that was broken, and the
perpetrators right or wrong were punished.
2.1
Ancient Egyptian Religion(s)
To simplify, we can easily say that the Ancient Egyptian developed norms that were refined from
one generation to the next. Historians refer to 32 dynasties that lasted about 5000 years. In the
early thinking of this agrarian society, they thought about plants, water, fire, and the universe
around them: Earth, the Sun, the Moon, and the Stars and the seasons of the year. They respected
Earth because all life began (was born) and ended (died) on the earth. They could not envision
for example a second earth. When they considered the Sun and the Moon, they also considered
them unique in the sense that they could only see One Sun and One Moon. Now, when they
looked at the stars they saw very many and were able to recognize the groups (constellations)
and the fact that they are far away. In this amazing view of the universe, they saw good and evil.
They desired the good and feared the evil, and in a sense they were Gnostics. They believed in
many Gods and envisioned the gods as having a human element and a divine element as well.
That is why they depicted gods as having a human body and animal head.
We can name a few of the gods (deities) of the Egyptians for reference in discussing their
heretics if you will:
Amon- Is the Sun and it is the source of heat and light most essential for all growth.
Osiris- a legendry good figure that could be based on a true-life story of a king. He was killed by
his evil brother Seth and his body was scattered all over the earth.
Isis- is a goddess, the loyal wife who collects all the pieces and gathers them together and
through her act of perseverance she resurrects her husband.
Horous – Is the son of Osiris and Isis who avenges the death of his father by looking all over and
finding Seth, arresting him and punishing him to death to avenge the death of his father. A falcon
headed man that was very important deity in the Pharonic culture. Most kings attached the name
Horus to thei name as their first title. He is the just son of Isis and Osiris who brings justice? He
is a true just human being. Bigger than life figures of Horous appear twice in Ramses II temple
in Abu-sembel, 200 Km south of Aswan. Which was actually built in the Land of Nubia, south of
Ancient Egypt. Ramses II was a great warrior who conquered Nubia, Sudan, North Africa, and
the Land of Cannan (Present day Israel, Palestine, Syria, and Jordan).
Sekhmit – god of war has the head of a lioness and the body of a woman.
Bes- Lion headed dwarf that they used to scare off evil.
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Thoerius- A hypotemus like image that was considered the source of fertility and the safe birth
of children.
2.2
The Revolt (Heresy) of Aknaton:
As the number of gods (deities) of the Egyptian grew, the number of priests grew also. There
was a multitude of worships in Ancient Egypt. Temples were built in different parts of the
country. Each temple resembled an Archdiocese in today’s society with an archpriest
(archbishop) and an order of priesthood. People were attracted more to the religion than anything
else. This weakened the authority of the kings. In the 18th dynasty, half way through the time of
the Ancient Egyptian civilization, a king arose who recognized the power of the priesthood. His
name was Akhnaton (the follower of the god Aton (the Sun)). Akhnaton's revolution was to stop
all the worship of all the gods of the Egyptians, except for one. The God Aton or Amon, the Sun.
He made himself the archpriest of this single faith and built a new city and a new temple south
west present day Cairo in the middle of Egypt. Moving the worship from Thebes (today's Luxor)
in southern Egypt to the new location. Only one type of priesthood was allowed and all the
others were banned.
This did not go un-noticed, because the priests revolted against the new religion and the new
king. The king was either poisoned or died of natural cause because his images show him always
with a strange looking enlarged midsection (stomach). His first wife Nefertiti followed him, but
here rule was not very long. She died less than three years after his death. Recent examination of
her mummified body indicates that the mummified body was desecrated by blows to the face and
other parts of the body. Their descendants including Tut-Ankh-Amon (King Tut) restored all the
religions and gods banned by Akhnaton.
The revolution of Akhnaton had a lasting effect on religion thereon. The Egyptians started to not
only worship their gods, but to demand a personal relation with them. Writings before Aknaton
showed only respect and admiration, even fear of gods. Writings after Akhnaton started to show
a personal relation between the gods and their followers. Not only they wrote their admiration,
but also they added their needs and demands from the gods.
A hymn from the time of Ramses II (12th Century BC) when translated says: "And thou shalt
give me health, life, and old age, a long reign, a strength to all my limbs … and thou shalt give
me to eat … and thous shalt give me to drink ..
The gods are now seen not only as creators and capricious sources of horrible events but also as
personal helpers and providers of resources to satisfy human needs of their followers
2.3
The Hebrew Religion (Judaism):
There are many ways to look at Judaism. Judaism is certainly a major religion in the world and a
great source of the writings and knowledge for Christianity and Islam. From the Ancient
Egyptian view point; Judaism is a heresy of Ancient Egyptian Religion. The ancient Egyptian
©2004; Copyright 2004 William A. Hanna, Ph.D.EE; St. Louis, MO 63011; USA
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writings are surprisingly silent when it comes to Judaism. It speaks about a foreign invader
nomadic culture from the East, meaning from a land east of Sinai, Egypt.
The Ancient Egyptian refer to them as the Hexus (nomads). These invaders "occupied the land of
Egypt east of the delta of the Nile" half way between present day Cairo and Suez (present day
region of Zagazeeg, Egypt). The Egyptians repelled them after a period of occupation of that
scarcely populated part of Egypt. It does not say killed them off or fought hard against them.
They just were pushed out and when they were out of Egypt, they are completely forgotten. The
history of Ancient Egypt does not mention their participation in building the temples and the
pyramids as some from the Jewish faith insist.
The Old Testament part of the Bible is basically a book of the History of the Jews, their common
laws, wisdom, and prophecy. The first part of the Old Testament also referred to as the Torah or
Five Books of Moses was written by Moses, the first and foremost Jewish Prophet, the one who
spoke with God ('Kaleem Allah').
Moses is not an accepted figure in ancient Egyptian writings. But in the Bible, he is the liberator
who brought the sons and daughters of the Hebrews out of Egypt. Egypt in the Jewish and
Orthodox Christian thinking is a symbol of slavery. In Egypt the Hebrews (The Sons of Light)
lived for 400 years waiting for their Liberation from slavery. This was done on the hands of
Moses whom the Coptic Church calls: 'moeseese archproheteese' (Moses the head of the
Prophets).
There is one passage in the Bible (The New Testament) that is very fascinating: "
"And Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and
deeds." (Acts 7:22)
As you expect the Old Testament does not mention this description, because Judaism is the
opposite of pagan Pharonic worship, however it is very well known that many of the thoughts
and concepts that was passed from generation to generation in the past was oral (unwritten)
knowledge. This description of Moses in the book of acts points to two important notions:
1. Moses because he was born in Egypt, and grew in the house of pharaoh was a privileged
prince who had a better and a bigger chance to learn anything he wanted to learn (smarts,
education, privilege, wealth, and power).
2. Moses discovered the one god that was taught by his ancestors, the Hebrew slaves and
most likely the notion of the "One god" theology of Akhnaton and Nefertiti.
Moses revolted against pharaoh and liberated his people from the slavery of Egypt and
brought them back to the worship of the God of their Ancestors, the God of Abraham, Isaac,
and Jacob. Yahwa (The God whose name is mysterious), Alluheem (The one God). Heresy
started immediately, because the people wanted to go back to the worship of Ibis (The golden
cow) that the Egyptians adorned with gold and silver, circled, chanted and bowed down to.
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2.4
The Heresy of Aaron (The Golden Calf):
If one is not paying attention to the meaning of this section, one can be offended in the title,
because Aaron was the older brother of Moses, the speaker for Moses in the presence
(confrontation) of Pharaoh, and he became the First Head Priest of the Jewish religion. The sons
of Aaron were the priests and their job was inherited from generation to generation. Not only
they were granted the privilege to be the only priests, they also were granted the privilege to live
from the priesthood, because the Lord commanded the Hebrews according to Moses to give
tithes (1/10) of everything they earned to the house of the Lord God. This was given for the keep
of the temple and as wages to the priests and other servants who come from one tribe only, the
tribe of Levi.
So, when we speak about Aaron's heresy, we are speaking about an event that happened and then
was corrected by Aaron himself who realized his heresy and repented with all of Israel to God by
destroying the gold statue and by weeping and crying to God for forgiveness that was granted to
them.
However, we start hearing about punishment from on High to those who break the laws of God.
The punishment also we hear is sometimes for them, their children and grandchildren. To the 4th
and 5th generation. Instead of telling it, the writer likes for you to read it from the English
translation of the Bible as was written by Moses and recorded for all humanity 3200 years ago.:
The Golden Calf
(1) 1
Now when the people saw that Moses delayed coming down from the mountain, the
people gathered together to Aaron, and said to him, "Come, make us gods that shall go
before us; for as for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do
not know what has become of him." 2And Aaron said to them, "Break off the golden earrings
which are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me."
3
So all the people broke off the golden earrings which were in their ears, and brought them
to Aaron. 4And he received the gold from their hand, and he fashioned it with an engraving
tool, and made a molded calf. Then they said, "This is your god, O Israel, that brought you
out of the land of Egypt!" 5So when Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it. And Aaron made
a proclamation and said, "Tomorrow is a feast to the LORD." 6Then they rose early on the
next day, offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to
eat and drink, and rose up to play. 7And the LORD said to Moses, "Go, get down! For your
people whom you brought out of the land of Egypt have corrupted themselves. 8They have
turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them. They have made themselves a
molded calf, and worshiped it and sacrificed to it, and said, "This is your god, O Israel, that
brought you out of the land of Egypt!"' 9And the LORD said to Moses, "I have seen this
people, and indeed it is a stiff-necked people! 10Now therefore, let Me alone, that My wrath
may burn hot against them and I may consume them. And I will make of you a great nation."
11
Then Moses pleaded with the LORD his God, and said: "LORD, why does Your wrath burn
hot against Your people whom You have brought out of the land of Egypt with great power
and with a mighty hand? 12Why should the Egyptians speak, and say, "He brought them out
to harm them, to kill them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth'?
Turn from Your fierce wrath, and relent from this harm to Your people. 13Remember
Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, Your servants, to whom You swore by Your own self, and said to
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them, "I will multiply your descendants as the stars of heaven; and all this land that I have
spoken of I give to your descendants, and they shall inherit it forever."'[1] 14So the LORD
relented from the harm which He said He would do to His people. 15And Moses turned and
went down from the mountain, and the two tablets of the Testimony were in his hand. The
tablets were written on both sides; on the one side and on the other they were written. 16Now
the tablets were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God engraved on the
tablets. 17And when Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, he said to Moses,
"There is a noise of war in the camp." 18But he said:
"It is not the noise of the shout of victory,
Nor the noise of the cry of defeat,
But the sound of singing I hear."
19
So it was, as soon as he came near the camp, that he saw the calf and the dancing. So
Moses' anger became hot, and he cast the tablets out of his hands and broke them at the foot
of the mountain. 20Then he took the calf which they had made, burned it in the fire, and
ground it to powder; and he scattered it on the water and made the children of Israel drink it.
21
And Moses said to Aaron, "What did this people do to you that you have brought so great a
sin upon them?" 22So Aaron said, "Do not let the anger of my lord become hot. You know the
people, that they are set on evil. 23For they said to me, "Make us gods that shall go before us;
as for this Moses, the man who brought us out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has
become of him.' 24And I said to them, "Whoever has any gold, let them break it off.' So they
gave it to me, and I cast it into the fire, and this calf came out." 25Now when Moses saw that
the people were unrestrained (for Aaron had not restrained them, to their shame among their
enemies), 26then Moses stood in the entrance of the camp, and said, "Whoever is on the
LORD's side--come to me!" And all the sons of Levi gathered themselves together to him.
27
And he said to them, "Thus says the LORD God of Israel: "Let every man put his sword on
his side, and go in and out from entrance to entrance throughout the camp, and let every man
kill his brother, every man his companion, and every man his neighbor."' 28So the sons of
Levi did according to the word of Moses. And about three thousand men of the people fell
that day. 29Then Moses said, "Consecrate yourselves today to the LORD, that He may bestow
on you a blessing this day, for every man has opposed his son and his brother."
30
Now it came to pass on the next day that Moses said to the people, "You have committed a
great sin. So now I will go up to the LORD; perhaps I can make atonement for your sin."
31
Then Moses returned to the LORD and said, "Oh, these people have committed a great sin,
and have made for themselves a god of gold! 32Yet now, if You will forgive their sin--but if
not, I pray, blot me out of Your book which You have written." 33And the LORD said to
Moses, "Whoever has sinned against Me, I will blot him out of My book. 34Now therefore, go,
lead the people to the place of which I have spoken to you. Behold, My Angel shall go before
you. Nevertheless, in the day when I visit for punishment, I will visit punishment upon them
for their sin." 35So the LORD plagued the people because of what they did with the calf
which Aaron made.
Please note the last verse: So the Lord plagued the people because of what they did with the
calf which Aaron made. Also note the words of Moses to the people that they have
committed a great sin, and that he (Moses) will go to the Lord, perhaps I can make atonement
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(intercede and obtain forgiveness). These are new words of asking for forgiveness, and
receiving forgiveness on behalf of the people, and the pleading with God: "You will forgive
their sin – but if not, I pray (beg you), blot me out (remove me completely) from Your book
You have written (Book of Life as referred to in Ancient Egyptian worship, Hebrew, and
later on the Christian religion and Islam).
The punishment for this generation of Hebrews was to deny them entrance to the Promised
Land, Canaan, the Land of abundant (overflowing) Milk and Honey. Even Moses himself did
not enter the Promised Land, he died in Sinai and his body was not found because he did not
want for the people to find him and worship his remains as they possibly would have coming
out of a place of Idol religion. He informed his disciple Joshua of his plan and the reason
behind it and turned the authority to Joshua who led a new generation of Hebrews to the
Land of Promise.
2.5
The Priesthood of Aaron
The priesthood of Aaron and his descendants was similar in many ways to the priesthood of the
Ancient Egyptian. It was based on complete loyalty and dedication and was full of rituals and
symbols of respect, even the fear of the Gods. The pharaohs were multitheist (multiple gods
worshippers), Aaron was monotheist (One God) worship servant..
"Now take Aaron your brother, and his sons with him, from among the children of Israel, that he
may minister to Me as priest, Aaron and Aaron's sons: Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar."
(Exodus 28:1-2)
"And you shall gird them with sashes, Aaron and his sons, and put the hats on them. The
priesthood shall be theirs for a perpetual statute. So you shall consecrate Aaron and his sons."
(Exodus 29Exodus 29:9)
"Of the blue, purple, and scarlet thread they made garments of ministry,[39:1 Or [woven
garments] ] for ministering in the holy place, and made the holy garments for Aaron, as the
LORD had commanded Moses. " (Exodus 39:1-2)
"You shall anoint them, as you anointed their father, that they may minister to Me as priests; for
their anointing shall surely be an everlasting priesthood throughout their generations."
(Exodus 40:14-16)
2.6
The Heresy of the Sons of Aaron (Nadab and Abihu)
Here we see an event that raises the hair and gnashes the teeth. When two sons of Aaron commit
profanity at the altar, a fire comes out of the censor and burns them alive. Moses commands
Aaron and his surviving children not to mourn their death, because they died in their heresy (sin).
They did something they were not supposed to do.
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The Profane Fire of Nadab and Abihu: The Conduct of the Priests
1
Then Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, each took his censer and put fire in it, put incense
on it, and offered profane fire before the LORD, which He had not commanded them. 2So fire
went out from the LORD and devoured them, and they died before the LORD. 3And Moses said to
Aaron, "This is what the LORD spoke, saying:
"By those who come near Me
I must be regarded as holy;
And before all the people
I must be glorified."'
So Aaron held his peace.
Then Moses called Mishael and Elzaphan, the sons of Uzziel the uncle of Aaron, and said to
them, "Come near, carry your brethren from before the sanctuary out of the camp." 5So they went
near and carried them by their tunics out of the camp, as Moses had said. 6And Moses said to
Aaron, and to Eleazar and Ithamar, his sons, "Do not uncover your heads nor tear your clothes,
lest you die, and wrath come upon all the people. But let your brethren, the whole house of
Israel, bewail the burning which the LORD has kindled. 7You shall not go out from the door of
the tabernacle of meeting, lest you die, for the anointing oil of the LORD is upon you." And they
did according to the word of Moses.
4
2.7
Worship of other Gods
Moses the head of the prophet laid out in the Book of Deuteronomy the punishment for heresy
and the reward for not following it. The punishment was death for anyone who deviates from the
Law of God, or worship another God. The reward for being steadfast and not falling in heresy is
that God will increase his people in numbers, wealth, and many years of life free from all their
enemies. Their numbers will be the number of the stars of heaven and the sand of the sea shores.
This however did not stop Israel from division into two nations Israel and Judea. One
immediately worshipped idols (The Kingdom of Israel) and the other also did from time to time
worshipping idols and other gods. And even during the time of kings that were anointed by the
prophets; e.g. Saul, David, and Solomon, they continued to worship foreign gods or allow the
worship to take place without objection as what was happening during the reign of Solomon, the
greatest king of Old Israel. He allowed the worship of idol because he had many foreign wives
that brought foreign practices to the land. They paid dearly over the years. The answer came later
in the fullness of time when God became a personal God. In the fullness of time Christ came.
God was incarnated and became man, and He bore our sins, and became proprieation for the sins
of the whole world!
Deuteronomy 13: Worshiping Other Gods
1
If a prophet, or one who foretells by dreams, appears among you and announces to you a
miraculous sign or wonder, 2 and if the sign or wonder of which he has spoken takes place, and
he says, "Let us follow other gods" (gods you have not known) "and let us worship them," 3 you
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must not listen to the words of that prophet or dreamer. The LORD your God is testing you to
find out whether you love him with all your heart and with all your soul. 4 It is the LORD your
God you must follow, and him you must revere. Keep his commands and obey him; serve him
and hold fast to him. 5 That prophet or dreamer must be put to death, because he preached
rebellion against the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt and redeemed you from the
land of slavery; he has tried to turn you from the way the LORD your God commanded you to
follow. You must purge the evil from among you. 6 If your very own brother, or your son or
daughter, or the wife you love, or your closest friend secretly entices you, saying, "Let us go and
worship other gods" (gods that neither you nor your fathers have known, 7 gods of the peoples
around you, whether near or far, from one end of the land to the other), 8 do not yield to him or
listen to him. Show him no pity. Do not spare him or shield him. 9 You must certainly put him to
death. Your hand must be the first in putting him to death, and then the hands of all the people. 10
Stone him to death, because he tried to turn you away from the LORD your God, who brought
you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. 11 Then all Israel will hear and be afraid, and no one
among you will do such an evil thing again. 12 If you hear it said about one of the towns the
LORD your God is giving you to live in 13 that wicked men have arisen among you and have led
the people of their town astray, saying, "Let us go and worship other gods" (gods you have not
known), 14 then you must inquire, probe and investigate it thoroughly. And if it is true and it has
been proved that this detestable thing has been done among you, 15 you must certainly put to the
sword all who live in that town. Destroy it completely, [1] both its people and its livestock. 16
Gather all the plunder of the town into the middle of the public square and completely burn the
town and all its plunder as a whole burnt offering to the LORD your God. It is to remain a ruin
forever, never to be rebuilt. 17 None of those condemned things [2] shall be found in your hands,
so that the LORD will turn from his fierce anger; he will show you mercy, have compassion on
you, and increase your numbers, as he promised on oath to your forefathers, 18 because you obey
the LORD your God, keeping all his commands that I am giving you today and doing what is
right in his eyes.
2.8
The Blessings of Obedience
It was made clear in all the communications between Moses and God (Yahweh) that if the people
worshipped Him and followed His commandments, that God will increase their fortunes and
banish all their enemies.
Deuteronomy 28: Blessings for Obedience
1
If you fully obey the LORD your God and carefully follow all his commands I give you today,
the LORD your God will set you high above all the nations on earth. 2 All these blessings will
come upon you and accompany you if you obey the LORD your God:
3
You will be blessed in the city and blessed in the country. 4 The fruit of your womb will be
blessed, and the crops of your land and the young of your livestock-the calves of your herds and
the lambs of your flocks. 5 Your basket and your kneading trough will be blessed.
6
You will be blessed when you come in and blessed when you go out.
7
The LORD will grant that the enemies who rise up against you will be defeated before you.
They will come at you from one direction but flee from you in seven. 8 The LORD will send a
blessing on your barns and on everything you put your hand to. The LORD your God will bless
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you in the land he is giving you. 9 The LORD will establish you as his holy people, as he
promised you on oath, if you keep the commands of the LORD your God and walk in his ways. 10
Then all the peoples on earth will see that you are called by the name of the LORD , and they
will fear you. 11 The LORD will grant you abundant prosperity-in the fruit of your womb, the
young of your livestock and the crops of your ground-in the land he swore to your forefathers to
give you. 12 The LORD will open the heavens, the storehouse of his bounty, to send rain on your
land in season and to bless all the work of your hands. You will lend to many nations but will
borrow from none. 13 The LORD will make you the head, not the tail. If you pay attention to the
commands of the LORD your God that I give you this day and carefully follow them, you will
always be at the top, never at the bottom. 14 Do not turn aside from any of the commands I give
you today, to the right or to the left, following other gods and serving them.
2.9
The Curses of disobedience
On the other hand if the people disobey God, they will be cursed in their homes, cities, and
country. Their enemies will rise against them and defeat them. Their lives and wealth will be
diminished and their end will be that of the unrighteous (not good).
Deuteronomy 28: Curses for Disobedience
15
However, if you do not obey the LORD your God and do not carefully follow all his commands
and decrees I am giving you today, all these curses will come upon you and overtake you: 16 You
will be cursed in the city and cursed in the country. 17 Your basket and your kneading trough will
be cursed. 18 The fruit of your womb will be cursed, and the crops of your land, and the calves of
your herds and the lambs of your flocks. 19 You will be cursed when you come in and cursed
when you go out. 20 The LORD will send on you curses, confusion and rebuke in everything you
put your hand to, until you are destroyed and come to sudden ruin because of the evil you have
done in forsaking him. [1] 21 The LORD will plague you with diseases until he has destroyed you
from the land you are entering to possess. 22 The LORD will strike you with wasting disease, with
fever and inflammation, with scorching heat and drought, with blight and mildew, which will
plague you until you perish. 23 The sky over your head will be bronze, the ground beneath you
iron. 24 The LORD will turn the rain of your country into dust and powder; it will come down
from the skies until you are destroyed. 25 The LORD will cause you to be defeated before your
enemies. You will come at them from one direction but flee from them in seven, and you will
become a thing of horror to all the kingdoms on earth. 26 Your carcasses will be food for all the
birds of the air and the beasts of the earth, and there will be no one to frighten them away. 27 The
LORD will afflict you with the boils of Egypt and with tumors, festering sores and the itch, from
which you cannot be cured. 28 The LORD will afflict you with madness, blindness and confusion
of mind. 29 At midday you will grope about like a blind man in the dark. You will be unsuccessful
in everything you do; day after day you will be oppressed and robbed, with no one to rescue you.
30
You will be pledged to be married to a woman, but another will take her and ravish her. You
will build a house, but you will not live in it. You will plant a vineyard, but you will not even
begin to enjoy its fruit. 31 Your ox will be slaughtered before your eyes, but you will eat none of
it. Your donkey will be forcibly taken from you and will not be returned. Your sheep will be given
to your enemies, and no one will rescue them. 32 Your sons and daughters will be given to
another nation, and you will wear out your eyes watching for them day after day, powerless to
lift a hand. 33 A people that you do not know will eat what your land and labor produce, and you
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will have nothing but cruel oppression all your days. 34 The sights you see will drive you mad. 35
The LORD will afflict your knees and legs with painful boils that cannot be cured, spreading
from the soles of your feet to the top of your head. 36 The LORD will drive you and the king you
set over you to a nation unknown to you or your fathers. There you will worship other gods, gods
of wood and stone. 37 You will become a thing of horror and an object of scorn and ridicule to all
the nations where the LORD will drive you. 38 You will sow much seed in the field but you will
harvest little, because locusts will devour it. 39 You will plant vineyards and cultivate them but
you will not drink the wine or gather the grapes, because worms will eat them. 40 You will have
olive trees throughout your country but you will not use the oil, because the olives will drop off.
41
You will have sons and daughters but you will not keep them, because they will go into
captivity. 42 Swarms of locusts will take over all your trees and the crops of your land.
43
The alien who lives among you will rise above you higher and higher, but you will sink lower
and lower. 44 He will lend to you, but you will not lend to him. He will be the head, but you will
be the tail. 45 All these curses will come upon you. They will pursue you and overtake you until
you are destroyed, because you did not obey the LORD your God and observe the commands
and decrees he gave you. 46 They will be a sign and a wonder to you and your descendants
forever. 47 Because you did not serve the LORD your God joyfully and gladly in the time of
prosperity, 48 therefore in hunger and thirst, in nakedness and dire poverty, you will serve the
enemies the LORD sends against you. He will put an iron yoke on your neck until he has
destroyed you. 49 The LORD will bring a nation against you from far away, from the ends of the
earth, like an eagle swooping down, a nation whose language you will not understand, 50 a
fierce-looking nation without respect for the old or pity for the young. 51 They will devour the
young of your livestock and the crops of your land until you are destroyed. They will leave you
no grain, new wine or oil, nor any calves of your herds or lambs of your flocks until you are
ruined. 52 They will lay siege to all the cities throughout your land until the high fortified walls in
which you trust fall down. They will besiege all the cities throughout the land the LORD your
God is giving you. 53 Because of the suffering that your enemy will inflict on you during the
siege, you will eat the fruit of the womb, the flesh of the sons and daughters the LORD your God
has given you. 54 Even the most gentle and sensitive man among you will have no compassion on
his own brother or the wife he loves or his surviving children, 55 and he will not give to one of
them any of the flesh of his children that he is eating. It will be all he has left because of the
suffering your enemy will inflict on you during the siege of all your cities. 56 The most gentle and
sensitive woman among you-so sensitive and gentle that she would not venture to touch the
ground with the sole of her foot-will begrudge the husband she loves and her own son or
daughter 57 the afterbirth from her womb and the children she bears. For she intends to eat them
secretly during the siege and in the distress that your enemy will inflict on you in your cities.
58
If you do not carefully follow all the words of this law, which are written in this book, and do
not revere this glorious and awesome name-the LORD your God- 59 the LORD will send fearful
plagues on you and your descendants, harsh and prolonged disasters, and severe and lingering
illnesses. 60 He will bring upon you all the diseases of Egypt that you dreaded, and they will cling
to you. 61 The LORD will also bring on you every kind of sickness and disaster not recorded in
this Book of the Law, until you are destroyed. 62 You who were as numerous as the stars in the
sky will be left but few in number, because you did not obey the LORD your God. 63 Just as it
pleased the LORD to make you prosper and increase in number, so it will please him to ruin and
destroy you. You will be uprooted from the land you are entering to possess.
64
Then the LORD will scatter you among all nations, from one end of the earth to the other.
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There you will worship other gods-gods of wood and stone, which neither you nor your fathers
have known. 65 Among those nations you will find no repose, no resting place for the sole of your
foot. There the LORD will give you an anxious mind, eyes weary with longing, and a despairing
heart. 66 You will live in constant suspense, filled with dread both night and day, never sure of
your life. 67 In the morning you will say, "If only it were evening!" and in the evening, "If only it
were morning!"-because of the terror that will fill your hearts and the sights that your eyes will
see. 68 The LORD will send you back in ships to Egypt on a journey I said you should never make
again. There you will offer yourselves for sale to your enemies as male and female slaves, but no
one will buy you.
2.10 The Law Ordained by God and Delivered by Moses the Arch-prophet
(The 10 Commandments)
The Ten Commandments
(1) 1
And God spoke all these words, saying:
2
"I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of
bondage.
3
"You shall have no other gods before Me.
4
"You shall not make for yourself a carved image--any likeness of anything that is in heaven
above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; 5you shall not bow
down to them nor serve them. For I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity
of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, 6but
showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.
7
"You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not hold
him guiltless who takes His name in vain.
8
"Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9Six days you shall labor and do all your
work, 10but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD your God. In it you shall do no work:
you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your
cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. 11For in six days the LORD made the heavens
and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the LORD
blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.
12
"Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the
LORD your God is giving you.
13
"You shall not murder.
"You shall not commit adultery.
15
"You shall not steal.
16
"You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
17
"You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, nor
his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your
neighbor's."
14
The People Afraid of God's Presence
Now all the people witnessed the thunderings, the lightning flashes, the sound of the trumpet,
and the mountain smoking; and when the people saw it, they trembled and stood afar off. 19Then
18
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they said to Moses, "You speak with us, and we will hear; but let not God speak with us, lest we
die."
20
And Moses said to the people, "Do not fear; for God has come to test you, and that His fear
may be before you, so that you may not sin." 21So the people stood afar off, but Moses drew near
the thick darkness where God was.
The Law of the Altar
22
Then the LORD said to Moses, "Thus you shall say to the children of Israel: "You have seen
that I have talked with you from heaven. 23You shall not make anything to be with Me--gods of
silver or gods of gold you shall not make for yourselves. 24An altar of earth you shall make for
Me, and you shall sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and your peace offerings, your sheep and
your oxen. In every place where I record My name I will come to you, and I will bless you. 25And
if you make Me an altar of stone, you shall not build it of hewn stone; for if you use your tool on
it, you have profaned it. 26Nor shall you go up by steps to My altar, that your nakedness may not
be exposed on it.'
To this day, these 10 rules are the foundation of the laws of most civilized nations including all
European countries, all the countries of North and South America, Australia, and Russia. 1/3 of
the world today is Moslem. Islamic Nations have laws based on Sharea (Divine Commandments)
as documented in the Holy Book of Islam, the Koran and the sayings of the prophet Mohammad
(Hadeeth). The Sharea of Islam is in many ways based on the Law of Moses, since Islamic
thinking tends to be much closer to Judaism than Christianity regardless of the claims that Islam
acknowledges both Christianity and Judaism.
Islam is leading its followers closer and closer to the tenants of their religion. Unfortunately for
the Western World, we are getting farther and farther from all religions, and are becoming
heathen in words and deeds.
Deviation from these laws is very evident in the Western world today. Examples are abundant
starting with promiscuity, homosexuality, frequent criticism of Christianity and Judaism, the
discovery of Eastern Religions (Hinduism, Budhism, Bahaism… etc.) and the worship of
deities/gods other than the Lord (Christian God), Yahweh that is Alloheem (God of the Jews),
that is Allah (The One God in Islam).
2.11 The Heresy of Miriam and Aaron
This is yet another heresy committed by Aaron the older brother of Moses and the Jewish head
priest. Their sister Miriam was his accomplice. They both admitted their sin and Moses asked for
them forgiveness again.
Numbers 12: Miriam and Aaron Oppose Moses
1
Miriam and Aaron began to talk against Moses because of his Cushite wife, for he had married
a Cushite. 2 "Has the LORD spoken only through Moses?" they asked. "Hasn't he also spoken
through us?" And the LORD heard this.
3
(Now Moses was a very humble man, more humble than anyone else on the face of the earth.)
4
At once the LORD said to Moses, Aaron and Miriam, "Come out to the Tent of Meeting, all
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three of you." So the three of them came out. 5 Then the LORD came down in a pillar of cloud;
he stood at the entrance to the Tent and summoned Aaron and Miriam. When both of them
stepped forward, 6 he said, "Listen to my words:
"When a prophet of the LORD is among you,
I reveal myself to him in visions,
I speak to him in dreams.
7
But this is not true of my servant Moses;
he is faithful in all my house.
8
With him I speak face to face,
clearly and not in riddles;
he sees the form of the LORD .
Why then were you not afraid
to speak against my servant Moses?"
9
The anger of the LORD burned against them, and he left them.
When the cloud lifted from above the Tent, there stood Miriam-leprous, [1] like snow. Aaron
turned toward her and saw that she had leprosy; 11 and he said to Moses, "Please, my lord, do
not hold against us the sin we have so foolishly committed. 12 Do not let her be like a stillborn
infant coming from its mother's womb with its flesh half eaten away."
13
So Moses cried out to the LORD , "O God, please heal her!"
14
The LORD replied to Moses, "If her father had spit in her face, would she not have been in
disgrace for seven days? Confine her outside the camp for seven days; after that she can be
brought back." 15 So Miriam was confined outside the camp for seven days, and the people did
not move on till she was brought back.
16
After that, the people left Hazeroth and encamped in the Desert of Paran.
10
2.12 The Rebellion of the whole Israelite Nation is Heresy:
Numbers 14: The People Rebel
1
That night all the people of the community raised their voices and wept aloud. 2 All the
Israelites grumbled against Moses and Aaron, and the whole assembly said to them, "If only we
had died in Egypt! Or in this desert! 3 Why is the LORD bringing us to this land only to let us fall
by the sword? Our wives and children will be taken as plunder. Wouldn't it be better for us to go
back to Egypt?" 4 And they said to each other, "We should choose a leader and go back to
Egypt."
5
Then Moses and Aaron fell facedown in front of the whole Israelite assembly gathered there. 6
Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh, who were among those who had explored the
land, tore their clothes 7 and said to the entire Israelite assembly, "The land we passed through
and explored is exceedingly good. 8 If the LORD is pleased with us, he will lead us into that land,
a land flowing with milk and honey, and will give it to us. 9 Only do not rebel against the LORD .
And do not be afraid of the people of the land, because we will swallow them up. Their
protection is gone, but the LORD is with us. Do not be afraid of them."
10
But the whole assembly talked about stoning them. Then the glory of the LORD appeared at
the Tent of Meeting to all the Israelites. 11 The LORD said to Moses, "How long will these people
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treat me with contempt? How long will they refuse to believe in me, in spite of all the miraculous
signs I have performed among them? 12 I will strike them down with a plague and destroy them,
but I will make you into a nation greater and stronger than they."
13
Moses said to the LORD , "Then the Egyptians will hear about it! By your power you brought
these people up from among them. 14 And they will tell the inhabitants of this land about it. They
have already heard that you, O LORD , are with these people and that you, O LORD , have been
seen face to face, that your cloud stays over them, and that you go before them in a pillar of
cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. 15 If you put these people to death all at one time, the
nations who have heard this report about you will say, 16 'The LORD was not able to bring these
people into the land he promised them on oath; so he slaughtered them in the desert.'
17
"Now may the Lord's strength be displayed, just as you have declared: 18 'The LORD is slow to
anger, abounding in love and forgiving sin and rebellion. Yet he does not leave the guilty
unpunished; he punishes the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation.'
19
In accordance with your great love, forgive the sin of these people, just as you have pardoned
them from the time they left Egypt until now."
20
The LORD replied, "I have forgiven them, as you asked. 21 Nevertheless, as surely as I live and
as surely as the glory of the LORD fills the whole earth, 22 not one of the men who saw my glory
and the miraculous signs I performed in Egypt and in the desert but who disobeyed me and
tested me ten times- 23 not one of them will ever see the land I promised on oath to their
forefathers. No one who has treated me with contempt will ever see it. 24 But because my servant
Caleb has a different spirit and follows me wholeheartedly, I will bring him into the land he went
to, and his descendants will inherit it. 25 Since the Amalekites and Canaanites are living in the
valleys, turn back tomorrow and set out toward the desert along the route to the Red Sea. [1] "
26
The LORD said to Moses and Aaron: 27 "How long will this wicked community grumble
against me? I have heard the complaints of these grumbling Israelites. 28 So tell them, 'As surely
as I live, declares the LORD , I will do to you the very things I heard you say: 29 In this desert
your bodies will fall-every one of you twenty years old or more who was counted in the census
and who has grumbled against me. 30 Not one of you will enter the land I swore with uplifted
hand to make your home, except Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun. 31 As for your
children that you said would be taken as plunder, I will bring them in to enjoy the land you have
rejected. 32 But you-your bodies will fall in this desert. 33 Your children will be shepherds here
for forty years, suffering for your unfaithfulness, until the last of your bodies lies in the desert. 34
For forty years-one year for each of the forty days you explored the land-you will suffer for your
sins and know what it is like to have me against you.' 35 I, the LORD , have spoken, and I will
surely do these things to this whole wicked community, which has banded together against me.
They will meet their end in this desert; here they will die."
36
So the men Moses had sent to explore the land, who returned and made the whole community
grumble against him by spreading a bad report about it- 37 these men responsible for spreading
the bad report about the land were struck down and died of a plague before the LORD . 38 Of the
men who went to explore the land, only Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh survived.
39
When Moses reported this to all the Israelites, they mourned bitterly. 40 Early the next morning
they went up toward the high hill country. "We have sinned," they said. "We will go up to the
place the LORD promised."
41
But Moses said, "Why are you disobeying the LORD's command? This will not succeed! 42 Do
not go up, because the LORD is not with you. You will be defeated by your enemies, 43 for the
Amalekites and Canaanites will face you there. Because you have turned away from the LORD ,
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he will not be with you and you will fall by the sword."
44
Nevertheless, in their presumption they went up toward the high hill country, though neither
Moses nor the ark of the LORD's covenant moved from the camp. 45 Then the Amalekites and
Canaanites who lived in that hill country came down and attacked them and beat them down all
the way to Hormah.
2.13 The Rebellion of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram is a Heresy
Numbers 16: Korah, Dathan and Abiram
1
Korah son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, and certain Reubenites-Dathan and
Abiram, sons of Eliab, and On son of Peleth-became insolent [1] 2 and rose up against Moses.
With them were 250 Israelite men, well-known community leaders who had been appointed
members of the council. 3 They came as a group to oppose Moses and Aaron and said to them,
"You have gone too far! The whole community is holy, every one of them, and the LORD is with
them. Why then do you set yourselves above the LORD's assembly?"
4
When Moses heard this, he fell facedown. 5 Then he said to Korah and all his followers: "In the
morning the LORD will show who belongs to him and who is holy, and he will have that person
come near him. The man he chooses he will cause to come near him. 6 You, Korah, and all your
followers are to do this: Take censers 7 and tomorrow put fire and incense in them before the
LORD . The man the LORD chooses will be the one who is holy. You Levites have gone too far!"
8
Moses also said to Korah, "Now listen, you Levites! 9 Isn't it enough for you that the God of
Israel has separated you from the rest of the Israelite community and brought you near himself
to do the work at the LORD's tabernacle and to stand before the community and minister to
them? 10 He has brought you and all your fellow Levites near himself, but now you are trying to
get the priesthood too. 11 It is against the LORD that you and all your followers have banded
together. Who is Aaron that you should grumble against him?"
12
Then Moses summoned Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab. But they said, "We will not
come! 13 Isn't it enough that you have brought us up out of a land flowing with milk and honey to
kill us in the desert? And now you also want to lord it over us? 14 Moreover, you haven't brought
us into a land flowing with milk and honey or given us an inheritance of fields and vineyards.
Will you gouge out the eyes of [2] these men? No, we will not come!"
15
Then Moses became very angry and said to the LORD , "Do not accept their offering. I have
not taken so much as a donkey from them, nor have I wronged any of them."
16
Moses said to Korah, "You and all your followers are to appear before the LORD tomorrowyou and they and Aaron. 17 Each man is to take his censer and put incense in it-250 censers in
all-and present it before the LORD . You and Aaron are to present your censers also." 18 So each
man took his censer, put fire and incense in it, and stood with Moses and Aaron at the entrance
to the Tent of Meeting. 19 When Korah had gathered all his followers in opposition to them at the
entrance to the Tent of Meeting, the glory of the LORD appeared to the entire assembly. 20 The
LORD said to Moses and Aaron, 21 "Separate yourselves from this assembly so I can put an end
to them at once."
22
But Moses and Aaron fell facedown and cried out, "O God, God of the spirits of all mankind,
will you be angry with the entire assembly when only one man sins?"
23
Then the LORD said to Moses, 24 "Say to the assembly, 'Move away from the tents of Korah,
Dathan and Abiram.' "
25
Moses got up and went to Dathan and Abiram, and the elders of Israel followed him. 26 He
warned the assembly, "Move back from the tents of these wicked men! Do not touch anything
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belonging to them, or you will be swept away because of all their sins." 27 So they moved away
from the tents of Korah, Dathan and Abiram. Dathan and Abiram had come out and were
standing with their wives, children and little ones at the entrances to their tents.
28
Then Moses said, "This is how you will know that the LORD has sent me to do all these things
and that it was not my idea: 29 If these men die a natural death and experience only what usually
happens to men, then the LORD has not sent me. 30 But if the LORD brings about something
totally new, and the earth opens its mouth and swallows them, with everything that belongs to
them, and they go down alive into the grave, [3] then you will know that these men have treated
the LORD with contempt." 31 As soon as he finished saying all this, the ground under them split
apart 32 and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them, with their households and all
Korah's men and all their possessions. 33 They went down alive into the grave, with everything
they owned; the earth closed over them, and they perished and were gone from the community. 34
At their cries, all the Israelites around them fled, shouting, "The earth is going to swallow us
too!" 35 And fire came out from the LORD and consumed the 250 men who were offering the
incense. 36 The LORD said to Moses, 37 "Tell Eleazar son of Aaron, the priest, to take the
censers out of the smoldering remains and scatter the coals some distance away, for the censers
are holy- 38 the censers of the men who sinned at the cost of their lives. Hammer the censers into
sheets to overlay the altar, for they were presented before the LORD and have become holy. Let
them be a sign to the Israelites." 39 So Eleazar the priest collected the bronze censers brought by
those who had been burned up, and he had them hammered out to overlay the altar, 40 as the
LORD directed him through Moses. This was to remind the Israelites that no one except a
descendant of Aaron should come to burn incense before the LORD , or he would become like
Korah and his followers. 41 The next day the whole Israelite community grumbled against Moses
and Aaron. "You have killed the LORD's people," they said. 42 But when the assembly gathered
in opposition to Moses and Aaron and turned toward the Tent of Meeting, suddenly the cloud
covered it and the glory of the LORD appeared. 43 Then Moses and Aaron went to the front of the
Tent of Meeting, 44 and the LORD said to Moses, 45 "Get away from this assembly so I can put an
end to them at once." And they fell facedown. 46 Then Moses said to Aaron, "Take your censer
and put incense in it, along with fire from the altar, and hurry to the assembly to make atonement
for them. Wrath has come out from the LORD ; the plague has started." 47 So Aaron did as
Moses said, and ran into the midst of the assembly. The plague had already started among the
people, but Aaron offered the incense and made atonement for them. 48 He stood between the
living and the dead, and the plague stopped. 49 But 14,700 people died from the plague, in
addition to those who had died because of Korah. 50 Then Aaron returned to Moses at the
entrance to the Tent of Meeting, for the plague had stopped.
2.14 The Donkey of Balaam prevents him from committing heresy:
Balak a prince of Moab, a tribe east of the Jordan river that feared the God of the Israelites
because he saw how successful they were against all the tribes, principalities, and kingdoms in
the land asked Balaam one of their local prophets to curse the Israelites so they will fail, but
Balaam did not want to do so, because he knew that their God is the true God, so he avoided
coming to Balak when he asked for him many times. Finally he was made to come, and on the
way the angel of the Lord prevents his donkey. When he struck the donkey, the animal spoke!
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Numbers 22: Balaam's Donkey
21
Balaam got up in the morning, saddled his donkey and went with the princes of Moab. 22 But
God was very angry when he went, and the angel of the LORD stood in the road to oppose him.
Balaam was riding on his donkey, and his two servants were with him. 23 When the donkey saw
the angel of the LORD standing in the road with a drawn sword in his hand, she turned off the
road into a field. Balaam beat her to get her back on the road. 24 Then the angel of the LORD
stood in a narrow path between two vineyards, with walls on both sides. 25 When the donkey saw
the angel of the LORD , she pressed close to the wall, crushing Balaam's foot against it. So he
beat her again. 26 Then the angel of the LORD moved on ahead and stood in a narrow place
where there was no room to turn, either to the right or to the left. 27 When the donkey saw the
angel of the LORD , she lay down under Balaam, and he was angry and beat her with his staff. 28
Then the LORD opened the donkey's mouth, and she said to Balaam, "What have I done to you to
make you beat me these three times?" 29 Balaam answered the donkey, "You have made a fool of
me! If I had a sword in my hand, I would kill you right now." 30 The donkey said to Balaam, "Am
I not your own donkey, which you have always ridden, to this day? Have I been in the habit of
doing this to you?" "No," he said. 31 Then the LORD opened Balaam's eyes, and he saw the
angel of the LORD standing in the road with his sword drawn. So he bowed low and fell
facedown. 32 The angel of the LORD asked him, "Why have you beaten your donkey these three
times? I have come here to oppose you because your path is a reckless one before me. [3] 33 The
donkey saw me and turned away from me these three times. If she had not turned away, I would
certainly have killed you by now, but I would have spared her." 34 Balaam said to the angel of
the LORD , "I have sinned. I did not realize you were standing in the road to oppose me. Now if
you are displeased, I will go back." 35 The angel of the LORD said to Balaam, "Go with the men,
but speak only what I tell you." So Balaam went with the princes of Balak. 36 When Balak heard
that Balaam was coming, he went out to meet him at the Moabite town on the Arnon border, at
the edge of his territory. 37 Balak said to Balaam, "Did I not send you an urgent summons? Why
didn't you come to me? Am I really not able to reward you?" 38 "Well, I have come to you now,"
Balaam replied. "But can I say just anything? I must speak only what God puts in my mouth." 39
Then Balaam went with Balak to Kiriath Huzoth. 40 Balak sacrificed cattle and sheep, and gave
some to Balaam and the princes who were with him. 41 The next morning Balak took Balaam up
to Bamoth Baal, and from there he saw part of the people.
2.15 The Sin (Heresy) of Achan Ibn Karmi
This was to take war trophies and keep it when the leader Joshua ordered that everything shall be
burned up. The punishment was death by burning for Achan Ibn Karmi and all the members of
his father's family, because of disobedience of the commands of the Lord God as spoken by
Joshua
Joshua: The Sin of Achan
1
But the children of Israel committed a trespass regarding the accursed things, for Achan the son
of Carmi, the son of Zabdi,[1] the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took of the accursed things;
so the anger of the LORD burned against the children of Israel. 2Now Joshua sent men from
Jericho to Ai, which is beside Beth Aven, on the east side of Bethel, and spoke to them, saying,
"Go up and spy out the country." So the men went up and spied out Ai.
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2.16 Minor Infractions are also Heresies (The Altar by the Jordan)
Moses and his successor (Joshua) did not allow even the slightest infraction like building an altar
and serving on it without the permission of the Head Priest, a descendant of Aaron. In this case
the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and 1/2 the tribe of Manasseh have built an altar in Canaan, the
promised land and they had to remove it.
Joshua: An Altar by the Jordan
10
And when they came to the region of the Jordan which is in the land of Canaan, the children of
Reuben, the children of Gad, and half the tribe of Manasseh built an altar there by the Jordan--a
great, impressive altar. 11Now the children of Israel heard someone say, "Behold, the children of
Reuben, the children of Gad, and half the tribe of Manasseh have built an altar on the frontier of
the land of Canaan, in the region of the Jordan--on the children of Israel's side." 12And when the
children of Israel heard of it, the whole congregation of the children of Israel gathered together at
Shiloh to go to war against them. 13Then the children of Israel sent Phinehas the son of Eleazar
the priest to the children of Reuben, to the children of Gad, and to half the tribe of Manasseh,
into the land of Gilead, 14and with him ten rulers, one ruler each from the chief house of every
tribe of Israel; and each one was the head of the house of his father among the divisions[1] of
Israel. 15Then they came to the children of Reuben, to the children of Gad, and to half the tribe of
Manasseh, to the land of Gilead, and they spoke with them, saying, 16"Thus says the whole
congregation of the LORD: "What treachery is this that you have committed against the God of
Israel, to turn away this day from following the LORD, in that you have built for yourselves an
altar, that you might rebel this day against the LORD? 17Is the iniquity of Peor not enough for us,
from which we are not cleansed till this day, although there was a plague in the congregation of
the LORD, 18but that you must turn away this day from following the LORD? And it shall be, if
you rebel today against the LORD, that tomorrow He will be angry with the whole congregation
of Israel. 19Nevertheless, if the land of your possession is unclean, then cross over to the land of
the possession of the LORD, where the LORD's tabernacle stands, and take possession among
us; but do not rebel against the LORD, nor rebel against us, by building yourselves an altar
besides the altar of the LORD our God. 20Did not Achan the son of Zerah commit a trespass in
the accursed thing, and wrath fell on all the congregation of Israel? And that man did not perish
alone in his iniquity."'
21
Then the children of Reuben, the children of Gad, and half the tribe of Manasseh answered and
said to the heads of the divisions[2] of Israel: 22"The LORD God of gods, the LORD God of gods,
He knows, and let Israel itself know--if it is in rebellion, or if in treachery against the LORD, do
not save us this day. 23If we have built ourselves an altar to turn from following the LORD, or if
to offer on it burnt offerings or grain offerings, or if to offer peace offerings on it, let the LORD
Himself require an account. 24But in fact we have done it for fear, for a reason, saying, "In time
to come your descendants may speak to our descendants, saying, "What have you to do with the
LORD God of Israel? 25For the LORD has made the Jordan a border between you and us, you
children of Reuben and children of Gad. You have no part in the LORD." So your descendants
would make our descendants cease fearing the LORD.' 26Therefore we said, "Let us now prepare
to build ourselves an altar, not for burnt offering nor for sacrifice, 27but that it may be a witness
between you and us and our generations after us, that we may perform the service of the LORD
before Him with our burnt offerings, with our sacrifices, and with our peace offerings; that your
descendants may not say to our descendants in time to come, "You have no part in the LORD."'
28
Therefore we said that it will be, when they say this to us or to our generations in time to come,
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that we may say, "Here is the replica of the altar of the LORD which our fathers made, though
not for burnt offerings nor for sacrifices; but it is a witness between you and us.' 29Far be it from
us that we should rebel against the LORD, and turn from following the LORD this day, to build
an altar for burnt offerings, for grain offerings, or for sacrifices, besides the altar of the LORD
our God which is before His tabernacle."
30
Now when Phinehas the priest and the rulers of the congregation, the heads of the divisions[3]
of Israel who were with him, heard the words that the children of Reuben, the children of Gad,
and the children of Manasseh spoke, it pleased them. 31Then Phinehas the son of Eleazar the
priest said to the children of Reuben, the children of Gad, and the children of Manasseh, "This
day we perceive that the LORD is among us, because you have not committed this treachery
against the LORD. Now you have delivered the children of Israel out of the hand of the LORD."
32
And Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest, and the rulers, returned from the children of Reuben
and the children of Gad, from the land of Gilead to the land of Canaan, to the children of Israel,
and brought back word to them. 33So the thing pleased the children of Israel, and the children of
Israel blessed God; they spoke no more of going against them in battle, to destroy the land where
the children of Reuben and Gad dwelt.
34
The children of Reuben and the children of Gad[4] called the altar, Witness, "For it is a witness
between us that the LORD is God."
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3.
Other Heresies in Old Jewish History
3.1
Abimalek Conspiracy
This is a story in the Book of Judges about a man who kills 70 brothers all on one stone (the
same time) to rule all by himself. He manages to defeat cities, burn them down to the ground and
sowed salt in their land so it can never be cultivated again. In all his conspiracies that are against
the word of God and Jewish Law he succeeds, but at the end his skull is crushed by a millstone
thrown on him by a woman. You can read the entire story in the Book of Judges chapter 9:
Judges 9 Abimelech's Conspiracy, Abimelech's Wickedness and Downfall
50
Then Abimelech went to Thebez, and he encamped against Thebez and took it. 51But there was
a strong tower in the city, and all the men and women--all the people of the city--fled there and
shut themselves in; then they went up to the top of the tower. 52So Abimelech came as far as the
tower and fought against it; and he drew near the door of the tower to burn it with fire. 53But a
certain woman dropped an upper millstone on Abimelech's head and crushed his skull. 54Then he
called quickly to the young man, his armorbearer, and said to him, "Draw your sword and kill
me, lest men say of me, "A woman killed him."' So his young man thrust him through, and he
died. 55And when the men of Israel saw that Abimelech was dead, they departed, every man to his
place.
56
Thus God repaid the wickedness of Abimelech, which he had done to his father by killing his
seventy brothers. 57And all the evil of the men of Shechem God returned on their own heads, and
on them came the curse of Jotham the son of Jerubbaal.
3.2
Samson's Sin (Heresy)
The story of Samson is very fascinating. He was the eldest son of his parents, he also was
‘Nazier’ (His parents made a vow concerning him) but he did not keep the vow. He married a
foreigner, something forbidden in Jewish Law. What happened to him after he defeated the
enemies of his nation was sad, because he told his secret to his foreign wife Delilah the Philistine
and she in turn robbed him of the secret of his strength, his long hair. Once she cut his hair he
was ambushed by his enemies who beat him, plucked his eyes, and imprisoned him as a trophy
under their temple. But at the end, he redeemed himself by using all his strength to pull the
columns of the temple from underneath, breaking them and crushing everyone in the temple to
death. Samson is considered an Old Testament Saint by the Orthodox Churches. His final act is
considered heroic and redemption of his soul as well.
Judges 16: Samson and Delilah
1
Now Samson went to Gaza and saw a harlot there, and went in to her. 2When the Gazites were
told, "Samson has come here!" they surrounded the place and lay in wait for him all night at the
gate of the city. They were quiet all night, saying, "In the morning, when it is daylight, we will
kill him." 3And Samson lay low till midnight; then he arose at midnight, took hold of the doors of
the gate of the city and the two gateposts, pulled them up, bar and all, put them on his shoulders,
and carried them to the top of the hill that faces Hebron. 4Afterward it happened that he loved a
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woman in the Valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah. 5And the lords of the Philistines came up
to her and said to her, "Entice him, and find out where his great strength lies, and by what
means we may overpower him, that we may bind him to afflict him; and every one of us will give
you eleven hundred pieces of silver."
6
So Delilah said to Samson, "Please tell me where your great strength lies, and with what you
may be bound to afflict you." 7And Samson said to her, "If they bind me with seven fresh
bowstrings, not yet dried, then I shall become weak, and be like any other man." 8So the lords of
the Philistines brought up to her seven fresh bowstrings, not yet dried, and she bound him with
them. 9Now men were lying in wait, staying with her in the room. And she said to him, "The
Philistines are upon you, Samson!" But he broke the bowstrings as a strand of yarn breaks when
it touches fire. So the secret of his strength was not known. 10Then Delilah said to Samson,
"Look, you have mocked me and told me lies. Now, please tell me what you may be bound with."
11
So he said to her, "If they bind me securely with new ropes that have never been used, then I
shall become weak, and be like any other man."
12
Therefore Delilah took new ropes and bound him with them, and said to him, "The Philistines
are upon you, Samson!" And men were lying in wait, staying in the room. But he broke them off
his arms like a thread. 13Delilah said to Samson, "Until now you have mocked me and told me
lies. Tell me what you may be bound with." And he said to her, "If you weave the seven locks of
my head into the web of the loom"-- 14So she wove it tightly with the batten of the loom, and said
to him, "The Philistines are upon you, Samson!" But he awoke from his sleep, and pulled out the
batten and the web from the loom. 15Then she said to him, "How can you say, "I love you,' when
your heart is not with me? You have mocked me these three times, and have not told me where
your great strength lies." 16And it came to pass, when she pestered him daily with her words and
pressed him, so that his soul was vexed to death, 17that he told her all his heart, and said to her,
"No razor has ever come upon my head, for I have been a Nazirite to God from my mother's
womb. If I am shaven, then my strength will leave me, and I shall become weak, and be like any
other man." 18When Delilah saw that he had told her all his heart, she sent and called for the
lords of the Philistines, saying, "Come up once more, for he has told me all his heart." So the
lords of the Philistines came up to her and brought the money in their hand. 19Then she lulled
him to sleep on her knees, and called for a man and had him shave off the seven locks of his
head. Then she began to torment him,[1] and his strength left him. 20And she said, "The
Philistines are upon you, Samson!" So he awoke from his sleep, and said, "I will go out as
before, at other times, and shake myself free!" But he did not know that the LORD had departed
from him. 21Then the Philistines took him and put out his eyes, and brought him down to Gaza.
They bound him with bronze fetters, and he became a grinder in the prison. 22However, the hair
of his head began to grow again after it had been shaven.
Samson Dies with the Philistines
Now the lords of the Philistines gathered together to offer a great sacrifice to Dagon their god,
and to rejoice. And they said:
23
"Our god has delivered into our hands
Samson our enemy!"
24
When the people saw him, they praised their god; for they said:
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Page 26
"Our god has delivered into our hands our enemy,
The destroyer of our land,
And the one who multiplied our dead."
25
So it happened, when their hearts were merry, that they said, "Call for Samson, that he may
perform for us." So they called for Samson from the prison, and he performed for them. And they
stationed him between the pillars. 26Then Samson said to the lad who held him by the hand, "Let
me feel the pillars which support the temple, so that I can lean on them." 27Now the temple was
full of men and women. All the lords of the Philistines were there--about three thousand men and
women on the roof watching while Samson performed. 28Then Samson called to the LORD,
saying, "O Lord GOD, remember me, I pray! Strengthen me, I pray, just this once, O God, that I
may with one blow take vengeance on the Philistines for my two eyes!" 29And Samson took hold
of the two middle pillars which supported the temple, and he braced himself against them, one on
his right and the other on his left. 30Then Samson said, "Let me die with the Philistines!" And he
pushed with all his might, and the temple fell on the lords and all the people who were in it. So
the dead that he killed at his death were more than he had killed in his life. 31And his brothers
and all his father's household came down and took him, and brought him up and buried him
between Zorah and Eshtaol in the tomb of his father Manoah. He had judged Israel twenty years.
3.3
Gibeah's Crime
This is a very sad story about bad men from the tribe of Benjamin whose heresy was to want to
have sex with a stranger, a man. When his host tells them that this is very shameful they take his
wife and have sex with her until she is literally dead from sex abuse.
The husband takes the body of the dead wife and cuts it up to 12 pieces and sends the pieces to
the leaders of the 12 tribes of Israel. It is to this day referred to as the shame of the tribe of
Benjamin or Gibeah's crime. This caused Israel 11 tribes to gather for war against the whole tribe
of Benjamin ; 400.000 Israelites against 26,000 from the tribe of Benjamin.
The Israelites were beaten on the first day and also on the second day of fight. But on the third
day they beat the army of the Benjaminites and killed all the inhabitants of Gibeah because of the
foolishness of some men and the stubborn stand of the whole tribe in support of the foolish
action of a few inhabitants. After they killed so many, men and women, all of Israel wept
because they made an oath not to give their daughters wives to the men of Benjamin, but devise
a scheme for the men of Benjamin to catch women from other races when the woman came to
dance in the festival near Shloah. The book of judges ends on a sad note: 25In those days there
was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes
Judges 19: Gibeah's Crime
22
As they were enjoying themselves, suddenly certain men of the city, perverted men,[1]
surrounded the house and beat on the door. They spoke to the master of the house, the old man,
saying, "Bring out the man who came to your house, that we may know him carnally!"
23
But the man, the master of the house, went out to them and said to them, "No, my brethren! I
beg you, do not act so wickedly! Seeing this man has come into my house, do not commit this
outrage. 24Look, here is my virgin daughter and the man's[2] concubine; let me bring them out
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now. Humble them, and do with them as you please; but to this man do not do such a vile thing!"
But the men would not heed him. So the man took his concubine and brought her out to them.
And they knew her and abused her all night until morning; and when the day began to break,
they let her go. 26Then the woman came as the day was dawning, and fell down at the door of the
man's house where her master was, till it was light. 27When her master arose in the morning, and
opened the doors of the house and went out to go his way, there was his concubine, fallen at the
door of the house with her hands on the threshold. 28And he said to her, "Get up and let us be
going." But there was no answer. So the man lifted her onto the donkey; and the man got up and
went to his place. 29When he entered his house he took a knife, laid hold of his concubine, and
divided her into twelve pieces, limb by limb,[3] and sent her throughout all the territory of Israel.
30
And so it was that all who saw it said, "No such deed has been done or seen from the day that
the children of Israel came up from the land of Egypt until this day. Consider it, confer, and
speak up!"
25
3.4
The Kings of Israel and what they brought
It is not all negative and it is not always positive having kings after Moses, Joshua, and the 22
Judges. The Prophet Samuel who completed the writing of the Old Testament starting with
Joshua, Judges, and then the News of the Kings of Israel (I Samuel, II Samuel)(4 Books total)
warned the people not to have kings, but at their insistence he pleaded with the Lord and his plea
was heard and anointed Saul, the son of Kaish as the first Hebrew King and when Saul
displeased God, he anointed David the Son of Jesse as the second king while Saul was still alive.
We can talk about many heretic/sinful situations with all their kingdoms regardless of the person
of the king good; e.g. David and Solomon, or bad; e.g Saul Jerboam, etc. Saul actually had a
good start but things turned bad and when he disobeyed God an evil spirit posessed him. But
even before kings and during the time of Judges the two sons of Ali the High Priest, who
themselves were priest offended God and both died in battle causing their father the High Priest
to fall of his chair and his neck was broken and he died with great sadness.
3.5
The Sons of Ali the High Priest
Ali the head priest had two sons who were warriors against the Philistine. The two sons were
corrupt; they accepted bribes and engaged in indecent acts. Ali had a boy that was dedicated to
God. Samuel saw a vision and the angel of the Lord spoke to him to warn Ali about the sins
(transgressions) of his sons. Ali knew the end of the evil ones, so as he was waiting for the wrath
of the Lord on his sons, he encouraged Samuel to learn as much as he can about the Law of the
Lord as laid out by Moses. Finally Ali receives the news of the death of his two sons in battle. He
was so grieved that he fell off his chair and his neck was broken and that was the end of his life
as well. Samuel went on to become a great prophet. He also was given the gift of recording
history that was added to the five books of Moses. This included: The Book of Joshua, Judges,
and Kings I, II, also referred to as Samuel I, II.. Samuel was asked by the people to anoint a king
for them, and when Samuel asked the Lord to help him fulfill the wish of the people, the Lord
told him that it is not good for them to have a king, but at their insistence the Lord guided
Samuel to choose Saul son of Kaish to be the first king. Saul was strong, good-looking, and very
decent fellow. But when he became king he changed and a unclean spirit possessed him. Some
advised the men of Saul to find a musician to play music to soothe the kings nerves, and it was
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recommended that David the Son of Jesse be that one. They brought David and he played the
harp for him that soothed him but he would get angry and throw his javelin at David to kill him,
so David hid away from the king.
3.6
King Saul
Saul had a very good start but when he started to disobey the Lord, an unclean spirit possessed
him. He literally went mad and he started to displease God more and persecute others such as
David whom he feared because he could see in him his replacement. He deceived David by
promising him his daughter as wife and then gave her away in marriage to another. He lost many
wars and at the end he was killed in battle. David had many chances to kill Saul, but he refused
because he thought that Saul is anointed of God, King of Israel. Even after Samuel the Great
Prophet anointed David King he refused to execute his office until after the death of Saul.
3.6.1. Consulting a Common Spirit?
After the prophet Samuel died, he was about to go war and wanted to know if he was going to
win or loose so he asked God, but God would not answer him: “he was afraid, and his trembling
greatly. And when he inquired of the Lord, the Lord did not answer him, either by dream or by
urim, or by the prophets.” (I Samuel 28:6). So he consulted a medium who was able to bring the
spirit of Samuel or an unclean spirit that pretended to be Samuel. “Then Saul said to his servants,
“Find me a woman who is a medium at En Dor. So Saul disguised himself and put on other
clothes, and he went, and two men with him.; and they came to the woman by night.” (I Samuel
28:8). He was told that he disturbed the prophet and his action was no good. “When the woman
saw Samuel, she cried out with a loud voice. And the woman spoke to Saul, “why have you
deceived me?” … Then Samuel said to Saul, “why have you disturbed me by bringing me up?”
… Then Samuel said: “so why do you ask me seeing that the Lord has departed from you and
has become your enemy? And the Lord Has done for Himself as He spoke by me. For the Lord
Has torn the Kingdom out of your hand and given it to your neighbor, David”” (I Samuel 28:1517).
Not long after that he went to war against the Philistines, and lost badly then he was injured, so
he asked the bearer of his arms to kill him and he died. His body was quickly removed so that the
Philistines will not desecrate his body.
His sins included: “did not obey the voice of the Lord nor execute His fierce wrath upon Amalek.
.. Moreover the Lord will also deliver Israel into the hands of the Philistine. And tomorrow you
and your sons will be with me. The Lord will also deliver the army of Israel into the hand of the
Philistines”” (1 Samuel 28:18, 19).
3.7
King David
David is described by Jewish and Christian writers as the Great Prophet and King. He was given
the gift of prophecy and also was a powerful king. He ruled the Israelites for 40 years. He built
Jerusalem, but was not allowed to build the temple. That job was given to his son King Solomon
by the Lord who instructed David that he is a man of war and blood is on his hands and for that
reason the Lord commanded that his son build the temple and not David himself.
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David was anointed king around 1000 BC. 500 years after the exodus from Egypt. He
was the second king over the children of Israel and the first among their kings to walk in
virtue and in justice. He was from the tribe of Judah from Bethlehem. God chose him to
be a king over Israel, when Saul, the son of Kish, disobeyed the commandment of God.
God commanded the Prophet Samuel to anoint for Him one of the children of Jesse, a
king over Israel. Samuel chose the eldest son who had a good appearance and was tall
in stature, but God rejected him and said to Samuel, "Do not look at his appearance or
at his physical stature, because I have refused him. For the Lord does not see as man
sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart." (I
Samuel 16:7)
Jesse called all his sons and showed them to Samuel and he chose David and anointed
him king. God was with him in all his ways, for his purity of heart and his meekness. He
overcame Saul who wanted to kill him on several occasions. Once Saul went out to kill
David and he went into a cave to attend to his needs. David came to him secretly and
cut off a corner of Saul's robe (I Samuel 24:4) to show him that he wouldn't stretch his
hand to kill him. Another time David found him sleeping and he took his spear and a jug
of water that was by his head and did not hurt him and spared his life for the second
time. (I Samuel 26:1-25) When David's men told him to destroy Saul, David said, "The
Lord forbid that I should stretch out my hand against the Lord's anointed." (I Samuel
26:11)
When a man announced to David the news about the death of his rival Saul saying, "I
stood over him and killed him," David took hold of his own clothes and tore them and he
mourned him. David called one of the young men and said, "Go near and execute him,"
(2 Samuel 1: 11-15) and he struck the man so that he died.
God honored this Prophet over all mankind, for he had many virtues. Besides the virtue
of humility, he was a prophet, a righteous man, and a just king. In spite of that, he called
himself a "dead dog" and a "flea". (I Samuel 24:14) God praised him by saying, "I have
found David, the son of Jesse, a man after My own heart, who will do all My will." (Acts
13:22; Psalms 89:20; 1 Samuel 13:14) God protected Jerusalem for his sake during his
lifetime and after his death, and He made the kings of the people of Israel from his
seed, and He called Himself "his Son." He prophesied in the Book of Psalms, which is a
book full of useful teachings and good instructions. David's might and power were
supported by God. When he was young and guarding his father's sheep, once a bear
and another time a lion attacked his sheep and David killed both the bear and the lion.
When the army of Israel faced the army of the Philistines and Goliath, the champion of
the Philistines, whose height was six cubits and a span, and who was armored with a
bronze helmet on his head and a coat weighing five thousand shekels of bronze, and he
had bronze grieves on his legs and a bronze javelin between his shoulders and the staff
of his spear was like a weaver's beam and his iron spearhead weighed six hundred
shekels; Goliath went out, stood up and cried out to the armies of Israel, "I defy the
armies of Israel this day; give us a man that we may fight together." The Philistine
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presented himself for forty days, morning and evening. All of Israel heard these words
and were dismayed and greatly afraid.
When David came to visit his brothers and brought provisions to their camp, he saw and
heard Goliath. David was moved with divine zeal and said to him, "You come to me with
a sword, with a spear, and with a javelin. But I come to you in the Name of the Lord of
hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied." David took out a stone
and he slung it and he struck the Philistine in his forehead, so that the stone sank in his
forehead and he fell on his face to the ground. David ran and stood over the Philistine,
took his sword and cut off his head and removed the reproach of Israel. (I Samuel 17)
David lived 70 years, 30 years of which were before he became a king. He was born
one thousand, one hundred and twenty years before Christ.
With all this greatness, King David sinned a great sin when he went up to the roof of his
palace and saw a woman (Beth Sheba) bathing, he was blinded by his desire for her
that he inquired about her and had her husband called from war and then sent him back
to the front lines to be killed and then he had her for a wife. God punished him for his sin
in several ways:
1. The first son of this relation died less than a week after his birth,
2. David realized his sin and sat in ashes wearing sack clothes and cried to the
Lord for forgiveness. The 51st Psalm is the repentance psalm that David wrote
and in which he expressed extreme sorrow, and he repented from all his heart, a
true repentance and was forgiven,
3. One of his own sons raped his half sister and despised her, and for that her own
full brother killed him,
4. Abhalom, his eldest son revolted against him and formed an army to fight his
own father. At first, they succeeded in capturing territories, but at the end they
failed against the army of his father under the leadership of Joab and Abishai the
sons of Zeruiah And he was killed.
5. Another son Adoijah the younger brother of Abshalom tried to take over when his
father was old, but he was rebuffed and the rule went to Solomon while David
was still alive.
6. The kingdom was divided after Solomon which was a great hurt for the Israelis as
a nation because they became divided.
3.8
King Solomon
King Solomon must be the greatest and wisest of all kings. When he was selected to rule after his
father David, he was asked by the Lord God: “what he wished for, and it shall be given to him”
and instead for asking for more wealth and prosperity he asked for wisdom and he was given a
large measure of that! “Therefore give to your servant an understanding heart to judge your
people, that I may discern between good and evil ..” (I Kings 3:9).
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He built the temple in Jerusalem, that is referred to as the Temple of Solomon to this day.
However, wisdom did not prevent him from having more than 700 women as wives, and 300
partners (concubine). “And he had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred
concubines, and his wives turned away his heart.” (I Kings 11:3). These included foreign women
from all the surrounding nations. With these women that were given as gifts to the king came
forbidden possessions such as statues of silver and gold (idols) and the worship of such. “For it
was so, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned his heart after their gods ; and his heart
was not loyal to the Lord his God, as was the heart of his father David.” (I Kings 11:4). This
displeased God and made Him divide the kingdom, not in Solomon’s life as God promised
David and Solomon, but immediately after his son Rehboam ascended to the throne.
3.9
King Rehboam
The son of Solomon who ruled after the wisest king that ever lived, was not wise at all. When the
people of Israel came to him inquiring what kind of ruler he will be: Rehboam received advice
from too camps: A group of elderly wise men advised him to be kind and fair, but a group of
youthful advisers gave him a wrong advise: to be harsh on his people because they are a race that
is hard to rule. He went out to the leaders of the people and declared: “My little finger is wider
than my father’s waist, .my father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with
scourges?” (I Kings 12:10-11) . This caused a serious division because all of Israel except for
two tribes: Judah an d Benjamin revolted against him and made Yerboam son of Nabat, the
enemy of his father whom Solomon exiled to Egypt, come back and be king of Israel. The kings
of Judah worshipped the Lord for the most part, and Jerusalem was their capital and the Temple
of Solomon was the place of worship and offerings.
But Israel for the most part separated itself from Judah and the temple and worshipped Idols for
the most part? “Therefore the king (Jerboam ) asked advice, made two calves of gold, and said to
the people: “it is too much for you to go to Jreusalem. Here are your gods, O Israel, which
brought you up from the land of Egypt. And he set up one in Bethel (most south town), and the
other he put in Dan (most northern town). Now this thing became a sin, for the people went to
worship before the one as far as Dan.” (I Kings 12: 28,29).
3.10 King Ahab and Queen Jezebel (Isabel)
King Ahab was the sixth king of Israel in this succession: Yerboam (did evil and started the
worship of idols in Israel), Baasha (same) , Elah (same), Zimri (same), Omri (same, for he
walked in all the ways of Jerboam the son on Nabat, and in his sin by which he has made Israel
sin, provoking the Lord God of Israel with their idols” (I Kings 16:26).
Ahab had a chance to please God by removing the idols. This was told to him by the great
prophet Elijah: “And Elijah the Tishbite, of the inhabitants of Gilead, said to Ahab, As the Lord
God of Israel lives, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew or rain these years except at my
word.” (I Kings 17:1).
And rain stopped for 3 years and six month while Elijah was in hiding from Ahab, by the
command of the Lord “Get away from here and turn eastward, and hide by the Brook Cherith,
which flows into the Jordan. And it will be that you shall drink from the brook, and I have
commanded the ravens to feed you there.” (I Kings 18:3-4).
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King Ahab looks for the prophet everywhere, and three years later Ahab finds the prophet and
begs him to pray to the Lord to cause the sky to rain again. This was done on one condition: a
contest between the prophet of God and all the priests of the idols in which they loose to the
prophet Elijah: “Then it happened that when Ahab saw Elijah, he said to him: “Is that you O
troubler of Israel?” And he answered: “I have not troubled Israel, but you and your fathers’
house have, in that you have forsaken the commandments of the Lord and followed the baals
(idols). Now therefore, send and gather all Israel to me on the mount of Carmel, the four hundred
and fifty prophets of Baal, and the four hundred prophets of asherah who eat at jezebel’s table.”
… And Elijah came to all the people and said, “How long will you falter between two opinions?
If the Lord is God, follow Him; But if Baal, follow him.” But the people answered him no
word.” (I Kings18-21).
Then Elijah told the people that he is alone as prophet of God but the prophets of Baal (Idol) are
450. He then gives them a test: To bring two bulls, let the prophets of the Baal choose first, one
bull, and he takes the other one. They will cut each to pieces and lay it on the wood, but put no
fire under it; and he will do the same exactly the same way. Let the prophets of Baal call on their
gods to send a fire from heaven to consume the bull, and he will do call on the Lord God to do
the same. And the God that sends a fire to consume the sacrifice is the true God (I kings 18:24).
The prophets of Baal try first and they fail, so the prophet Elijah mocks them and asks them to
try harder, may be their gods are deaf of hearing or sleep. Nothing happens. “so they cried aloud,
and cut themselves as was their custom, with knives and lances, until the blood gushed out of
them. They did that all day and unto the evening. Then Elijah did pray to the Lord God of Israel
and a fire came immediately and consumed the sacrifice and the stones of the altar as a sign that
the God of Israel is the true God.
Elijah slaughtered all the prophets of the idols on that day in front of the people gathered. One
would think that this will turn Ahab from his evil way, but instead it hardened him against the
prophet of God. Ahab goes and tells his wife Jezebel and she begins to plot against the prophet
Elijah.
3.10.1
The Vineyard of Nabot the Jezreel:
Then they do a worse act that deserved to be mentioned in the Book of Kings. Ahab desires a
small plot of land, a vineyard that belonged to a poor man, namely Nabot the Jezzreel. The king
tries to buy it from the man, but Nabot refuses to sell because it was a shame (sin) for one to sell
his inheritance. Ahab is now angry and tells Jezebel and in her foolish conceit she solves the
problem of the king by having the man killed and the land taken away by force. This angers the
Lord against them and he sends his prophet with the following message of doom for Ahab, his
wife and all their descendants: “So, Ahab said to Elijah, “Have you found me. O my enemy?”
And he (Elijah) answered: “I have found you, because you have sold yourself to do evil in the
sight of the Lord.” Behold, I will bring calamity on you, I will take away your prosperity, and
will cut off from Ahab every male in Israel, both bond and free. I will make your house like the
house of Jerboam the son of Nabat. And like the house of Baasha the son of Ahijah, because of
the provocation with which you have provoked Me to anger, and made Israel to sin. And
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concerning Jezebel the Lord also spoke, saying, The dogs shall eat Jezebel by the wall of Jezreel.
The dogs shall eat whoever belongs to Ahab and dies in the city, and the birds of the air shall
whoever dies in the field. But there was no one like Ahab who sold himself to do wickedness in
the sight of the Lord, because Jezebel his wife stirred him up.” (I Kings 21: 20-25).
This is the story of the heresy of Ahab and Jezebel. Jezebel became a symbol of the worst evil in
the Old Testament and the New. The Book of Revelation refers to Jezebel as the symbol of the
worst evil doers.
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4.
The Christian Age and Heresies
When we talk about Christianity and what came from my most honored religion, I find it very
difficult to comprehend the number of heresies that plagued Christianity from early on and
continue to this day. But I find comfort in the words of Christ:
Matthew 18
5
Whoever receives one little child like this in My name receives Me.
So regardless of what we do, if we can go back and master simple faith, be like little children, in
honesty and purity of heart, we all can receive Him and enjoy His liberating power. Jesus warned
about offenses that they will happen, but he also described the punishment of the offenders:
Jesus Warns of Offenses
"Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to sin, it would be better for him
if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were drowned in the depth of the sea. 7Woe to
the world because of offenses! For offenses must come, but woe to that man by whom the offense
comes!
(1) 6
Mark 9
41
For whoever gives you a cup of water to drink in My name, because you belong to Christ,
assuredly, I say to you, he will by no means lose his reward.
Jesus Warns of Offenses
(1) 42
"But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better
for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were thrown into the sea. 43If your hand
causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter into life maimed, rather than having two
hands, to go to hell, into the fire that shall never be quenched-Luke 17: Jesus Warns of Offenses
The Coming of the Kingdom
(1) 1
Then He said to the disciples, "It is impossible that no offenses should come, but woe to him
through whom they do come! 2It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his
neck, and he were thrown into the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones. 3Take
heed to yourselves. If your brother sins against you,[1] rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him.
As a Christian, I find great comfort in knowing that the Lord Christ did foretell us about
Offenses, some are heresies, others are small mistakes or difference of opinion. When Jesus was
teaching (warning) about heresies, Peter declared his loyalty: "if everyone stumbles, I will not?"
to be told that he will, and he did in one occasion deny Christ three times. Here is the
conversation:
Matthew 26
But after I have been raised, I will go before you to Galilee."
33
Peter answered and said to Him, "Even if all are made to stumble because of You, I will never
32
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be made to stumble."
34
Jesus said to him, "Assuredly, I say to you that this night, before the rooster crows, you will
deny Me three times."
I find the disciple, Apostle, Pope, Patriarch, and Marty St. Peter a good example to follow. He
was very quick to show his loyalty and belief, but at the same time he fell easily. By the same
zeal (haste) he showed faith and loyalty, he also fell as fast. And also by the same haste he
repented and his repentance was true to the meaning of the word, complete submission and heart
felt sorrow.
In our orthodox faith there is a good agreement that if Judas Iscariot did have the same haste
Peter had, he could have been saved through repentance, instead Judas choose to hang himself
and died in his sins. So what are the heresies that came out of Christians and what effects these
had on the history of religion?
First, we need to understand that Christianity, the belief in Christ the Lord, God and Savior is
much simpler than what the religion, Christianity, evolved to, and what it is now. Three Major
Groups: Orthodox, Catholics, and Protestants. Thousands of denominations and cults that are
very hard to count or reconcile.
The division started from the days of the Apostles, very early on. The Sts. Paul and Peter had a
major disagreement over what is required of the Gentiles to enter the faith. Peter wanted them to
be made full-fledged Jews in addition to accepting Christ through Baptism and the descent of the
Holy Spirit. Paul saw it unnecessary complication in making everyone who want to be Christian
(follower of Christ) to pass the difficult test of becoming a Jew first, because the Law (of Moses)
was very hard, too much for them to bear.
To settle the argument, a conference (Council) was held in Jerusalem, presided by the Bishop of
Jerusalem, St. James (most likely James Alpheus or James the Lesser) and in the Council, the
writer is sure there was a lot of discussion, argument if you will. We only receive the resolution
of the argument in a short sentence in the book of Acts (of the Apostles of Jesus Christ):
28
For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these
necessary things: 29that you abstain from things offered to idols, from blood, from things
strangled, and from sexual immorality.[6] If you keep yourselves from these, you will do well.
Here is the complete text of the discussion as stated in the book of Acts:
Acts 15 Conflict over Circumcision
The Jerusalem Council
And certain men came down from Judea and taught the brethren, "Unless you are circumcised
according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved." 2Therefore, when Paul and Barnabas
had no small dissension and dispute with them, they determined that Paul and Barnabas and
certain others of them should go up to Jerusalem, to the apostles and elders, about this question.
3
So, being sent on their way by the church, they passed through Phoenicia and Samaria,
describing the conversion of the Gentiles; and they caused great joy to all the brethren. 4And
1
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when they had come to Jerusalem, they were received by the church and the apostles and the
elders; and they reported all things that God had done with them. 5But some of the sect of the
Pharisees who believed rose up, saying, "It is necessary to circumcise them, and to command
them to keep the law of Moses."
The Jerusalem Council
6
Now the apostles and elders came together to consider this matter. 7And when there had been
much dispute, Peter rose up and said to them: "Men and brethren, you know that a good while
ago God chose among us, that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and
believe. 8So God, who knows the heart, acknowledged them by giving them the Holy Spirit, just
as He did to us, 9and made no distinction between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith.
10
Now therefore, why do you test God by putting a yoke on the neck of the disciples which neither
our fathers nor we were able to bear? 11But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus
Christ[1] we shall be saved in the same manner as they."
12
Then all the multitude kept silent and listened to Barnabas and Paul declaring how many
miracles and wonders God had worked through them among the Gentiles. 13And after they had
become silent, James answered, saying, "Men and brethren, listen to me: 14Simon has declared
how God at the first visited the Gentiles to take out of them a people for His name. 15And with
this the words of the prophets agree, just as it is written:
16
'After this I will return
And will rebuild the tabernacle of David, which has fallen down;
I will rebuild its ruins,
And I will set it up;
17
So that the rest of mankind may seek the LORD.
Even all the Gentiles who are called by My name,
Says the LORD who does all these things.'(1)
18
"Known to God from eternity are all His works.[2] 19Therefore I judge that we should not
trouble those from among the Gentiles who are turning to God, 20but that we write to them to
abstain from things polluted by idols, from sexual immorality,[3] from things strangled, and from
blood. 21For Moses has had throughout many generations those who preach him in every city,
being read in the synagogues every Sabbath."
The Jerusalem Decree
Then it pleased the apostles and elders, with the whole church, to send chosen men of their
own company to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas, namely, Judas who was also named
Barsabas,[4] and Silas, leading men among the brethren.
23
They wrote this, letter by them:
22
The apostles, the elders, and the brethren,
To the brethren who are of the Gentiles in Antioch, Syria, and Cilicia:
Greetings.
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24
Since we have heard that some who went out from us have troubled you with words, unsettling
your souls, saying, "You must be circumcised and keep the law"[5] --to whom we gave no such
commandment-- 25it seemed good to us, being assembled with one accord, to send chosen men to
you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul, 26men who have risked their lives for the name of our
Lord Jesus Christ. 27We have therefore sent Judas and Silas, who will also report the same things
by word of mouth. 28For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit, and to us, to lay upon you no greater
burden than these necessary things: 29that you abstain from things offered to idols, from blood,
from things strangled, and from sexual immorality.[6] If you keep yourselves from these, you will
do well.
Farewell.
Continuing Ministry in Syria
30
So when they were sent off, they came to Antioch; and when they had gathered the multitude
together, they delivered the letter. 31When they had read it, they rejoiced over its encouragement.
32
Now Judas and Silas, themselves being prophets also, exhorted and strengthened the brethren
with many words. 33And after they had stayed there for a time, they were sent back with greetings
from the brethren to the apostles.[7]
34
However, it seemed good to Silas to remain there.[8] 35Paul and Barnabas also remained in
Antioch, teaching and preaching the word of the Lord, with many others also.
Division over John Mark
Then after some days Paul said to Barnabas, "Let us now go back and visit our brethren in
every city where we have preached the word of the Lord, and see how they are doing." 37Now
Barnabas was determined to take with them John called Mark. 38But Paul insisted that they
should not take with them the one who had departed from them in Pamphylia, and had not gone
with them to the work. 39Then the contention became so sharp that they parted from one another.
And so Barnabas took Mark and sailed to Cyprus; 40but Paul chose Silas and departed, being
commended by the brethren to the grace of God. 41And he went through Syria and Cilicia,
strengthening the churches.
36
As we explained in the Introduction: There were heresies in the early church even in the time of
the Apostles and we mentioned Nicholaus, and Dimas. As the Church grew it suffered great
persecutions in Palestine, Syria, Asia Minor, Rome, and all of North Africa and in particular
Egypt. Some of the great martyrs include:
1. Peter and Paul who were martyred in Rome during the Reign of the Emperor Nero
("Nayroon") in 63 AD. Peter was crucified upside down. Because again when the time of
his execution came, he wanted to escape death, but according to Church History (Book of
Synxarium) Christ appeared to him on the road and Peter inquired: Lord where are you
going? And Christ replied to be crucified for you Peter, my disciple, one more time. Peter
repented again and went back to the executioner and asked him to crucify him (meaning
Peter) upside down, because he did not deserve to die like Christ, but he derived to die
worse. About Paul, he was accused by the Jews of causing a rift in the nation by
preaching a man, Christ, who came with "strange teachings!." Paul being a Roman
Citizen, not a foreigner like Peter was, asked to be judged by the Emperor. He got his
wish in 60 AD. He was transported by a Roman Legion to Rome. He lived in Rome for 2
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years in a house he rented and was condemned to death by the Roman Empire and his
head was cut off by the Sword, the death sentence for Roman Citizen in Rome also in 63
AD. The Church celebrates The Martyrdom of Peter and Paul whom we call ‘Hamata alrussol’ (The heads of the Apostles) on the 12th of July which is the day of All Apostles
feast, since to coincide with the day following the last day of the Apostles fast.
2. The Apostle St. John lived longer than the others 12 and he was exiled to an Island off
the Coast of Asia Minor called Patmos. He wrote the Gospel according to St. John, three
epistles, and his last writings was the vision he saw of Jesus Christ and the events
following Christ Resurrection and foretelling the events the world will see until the
Second Coming of Christ in His Glory to Judge everyone according to his deeds that are
recoded in the Book of life and about eternal Life of joy for those whose names are found
in the book of life and eternal life of damnation for those who are not written in the book
of Life.
3. St. Thomas preached in India and Persia and was martyred in what was a vast land East
of the two rivers (Dougla and Euphrates). He was a source of human curiosity through
his episodes of doubt that helps everyone to question and not be afraid.
4. St. Matthew preached in the coast cities of Palestine and also in the countries of the East.
He was martyred there. He wrote the Gospel According to St. Matthew that the Church
considers the Gospel (Good News) to the Jews.
5. St. Mark was a nephew of St. Peter. He traveled with Paul and Barnabas. He also went to
Rome and to Egypt after Rome. In Alexandria Egypt he brought a cobbler (shoe
repairman) to the Christian faith, he left, joined Paul on his third journey, and returned
back to Egypt. He appointed Anania, the Shoe repairman a bishop and appointed with
him 12 priests and seven deacons, thus establishing the Church of Egypt, St. Mark Coptic
Church. He was arrested by the Roman governor of Alexandria, condemned to death for
bringing to Egypt a religion not approved by the Roman Empire. He was tied to the tail of
a horse and dragged on the streets of Alexandria until his head was severed from the rest
of his holy body. He was martyred in 68 AD. The Church celebrates his martyrdom on
May 8 every year. His head and body were first hidden and later buried in Alexandria. He
is the considered the first Pope and Patriarch of Egypt and all Africa. We call him St.
Mark the Apostle, the Evangelist, the Marty, the first Pope and Patriarch, and the
Beholder of the Divine because he was a young man when Christ was preaching on earth.
And in his parents house the first communion (The Last Supper) as well as the descent of
the Holy Spirit took place, This is in what is referred to in the Bible as the upper room.
6. St. Luke wrote the Gospel carrying his name and is also credited by many scholars as the
writer of the Book of the Acts of the Apostles of Jesus Christ, briefly referred to as the
Book of Acts. He was a Greek convert, not of Jewish origin. He was a physician and
artist (painter) who wrote in more details about the miracles Christ performed, because he
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was appealing to his race, the Greeks who were masters of philosophy and medicine to
accept Christ as their savior and to forgo the worship of idols.
7. St. James, the brother of John was martyred in Jerusalem. James wrote one epistle that
carries his name, the Epistle of St. James. It is extremely very philosophical in presenting
the norms for human behavior and in describing the human nature and the sources of evil.
8. We do not read much about St. Andrew, the older brother of St. Peter, but he must have
died earlier than all the others because he and his brother Peter were over 50 years of age
when they met Christ. However, Andrew enjoys the same esteem that the other Disciples
of Christ have in the Churches that show honor to the saints.
It is unfortunate that some of the more liberal "protestant" Churches do not care to show or give
honor to any of the spiritual ancestors other than Christ Himself, whom many protestant
denominations consider everything. This in itself is a cause of rifts and strife between some
protestant Churches and those who have more traditions concerning the "Saints" Also disputes
among Christians concerning the honor and position of the Virgin St. Mary and other Saints led
to bloody disagreement, and heresies that a true Christian should not wish that any of that ever
happened!
The Church could have stayed a simple place except for two things:
1. Persecution led to a flood of new comers who so in Christ and the Church something they
never expected. They saw a people that are very kind and very forgiving towards their
persecutors.
2. The Largest nation at the peak of persecution, the Roman Empire, Itself inexplicably
became a Christian Nation on the hands of Constantine, the first Roman Emperor to make
the Christian Religion the National Religion of the Roman Empire (around 303 AD), and
to take the Cross as the symbol of Victory instead of it old meaning as a symbol of shame
that was reserved to hard criminals that are not even citizens of the Empire that did not
even deserve for their heads to be cut by the Sword. The Emperor Constantine declared
the Cross as emblem of the Nation to be displayed in the places of honor in the Empire
and on the helmets and the uniforms of the soldiers and to be carried as a banner, a sign
of both Victory (through the Red Color symbolic of the blood of the savior) and the
White color that symbolizes peace through faith in Christ.
This great victory for Christianity brought with it an eternal strife between those who are trying
to defend the Christian faith as they understood what it means based on teachings of the
predecessors (Fathers of the Church, as they call them) and those who want to improvise
(protestants for example) and those who want to cause radical changes in what Christ is and also
in what a Church should be like.
The major (cannot call them great because they are the worst offenders) according to the Church
that was in the 4th Century one Church, multiple nationalities, are:
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1, Arios, defrocked priest from Alexandria.
2. Nestor or Nastour, who was the Patriarch of Constantinepole before his fall, removal, and
exile.
3. Eutycha, a priest
4. Macedonius, a bishop
5. Sabelliuos, a bishop
The fathers that defended the "Orthodox" faith came mostly from the East, Egypt and Palestine
in Particular and they include:
1. Athanassius, the 20th Pope of Alexandria. Also referred to as the 13th Disciple.
2. Kyrillos, the 24th Pope of Alexandria (Cyril of Alexandria), the Pillar of Faith, the 24th
Pope of Alexandria and the one who defended the Church against the Nestorian heresy.
3. Saverus, the Patriarch of Antioch (Syria) who followed the faith of Athanassius and
Kyrillos and was exiled to Egypt where he did most of his Orthodox writings.
4. John Chrysosotm, the bishop (Patriarch) of Antioch who agreed with the Church of
Alexandria and wrote beautiful articles confirming the faith, then disagreed with them
causing Anathemas both ways that were removed towards the end of his life on earth.
5. Descores, 25th Pope of Alexandria who is the least understood of all the Alexandrian
Patriarchs, the Champion of faith, because he was beaten and exiled by orders from the
Emperor Justianne and the Empress Isadoura.
4.1
Summary of Church Schisms:
1. The first schism (rift) between the Churches happened in 451 AD when the bishops of Rome
and the Eastern Orthodox Bishops stood against Pope Descores and the bishops representing
what in history referred to as the oriental (distant) churches.
The Oriental Churches that were excommunicated, exiled, banished, etc. are: The Church of
Alexandria (Egypt), Antioch (Syria), Armenia, Ethiopia, and India. Five Churches total were
considered Anathema, cut-off from the rest of Christendom in 451 AD. This situation continued
for a longtime and only recently there is dialogues between the Oriental Orthodox and the
Eastern Orthodox. And dialogues between each of the Orthodox families and the Roman
Catholics. There is also dialogues between Orthodox, Protestants, and Catholics. And as it
becomes necessary for coexistence in the world dialogues with Moslems and dialogues among
all religions. Dialogues and dialogues and dialogues.
2. The Second Schism happened in 1054 AD when Michael, the Patriarch of Constantine pole
requested help from the Western Roman Empire through Leo, the Pope of Rome against the
Ottomans who were at the doors of Constantinepole, the Capital of the Eastern Roma Empire.
The Pope of Rome place many religious conditions on such help that were accepted, but the
Western Empire did not promise which made the Easter Orthodox Patriarch coin the phrase:
“East is East, and West is West.” The Byzantine Empire as it was known was defeated and the
Church marginalized and a bitter enmity developed between the two groups to this day.
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3. In 1517, Martin Luther posted a note on the door of a Church in Gottenberg, Germany that is
referred to as the 95 theses. This was the beginning of a large division in the Roman Catholic
Church that has a lasting impact on Christianity to this day. The reformation as it is named by its
followers started by Martin Luther, but it continued to produce divisions among the reformers
because they also started to disagree with each other on the interpretation of the Bible and the
proper ways of running the affairs of the “Church” (Congregation of Believers or Body of
Christ). In his life Marti Luther saw breaking up when John Calvin and chose to organize
churches and adopt beliefs that are different. Being trained as a lawyer, he was able to write new
rules for Calvinism that liberated the individual more from the traditional churches by explaining
the need of the individual for freedom of thinking and interpretation. He also incited that sin
exists because God wants it to exist, and that man is predestined to do what he does right or
wrong!
The originator of the Reformed Tradition was Ulrich Zwingli (1484-1531). Although he
agreed with Martin Luther on many things, he also disagreed on a few key issues and it
was this which caused him to go his own way. One of the most important was the
nature of the Eucharist. Luther still agreed with the orthodox Catholic belief that the
bread and wine were not symbols but rather that their "essence" were transformed into
Christ's actual body and blood. Zwingli, however, believed that they were only symbols
of Christ's death and spiritual transformation. This later became the gold standard for all
protestants except Lutherans.
5. The Presbyterian Church is a Protestant denomination which developed from the doctrines of
Calvinist Churches of Switzerland and France. Presbyterianism itself was founded by John Knox
in Scotland in 1557 and the standard expression of doctrines and faith can be found in the
Westminster Confession of Faith. This was drawn up by a group of 151 laymen, clergy and
scholars who were appointed to the task by the English Parliament in 1643.
Strictly speaking, the term "Presbyterian" refers not so much to a particular set of doctrines but
instead to a particular form of church government. For Presbyterians, their church is governed by
a group of elders, or presbyteros. There are teaching elders, who are the ordained ministers, and
ruling elders who are elected from the ranks of church members. In each individual church, the
elders are invested with supreme authority in all spiritual matters. Presbyterians do not, however,
believe that theirs is the "One True Church" or that their system of church government is the
only one authorized by the New Testament.
The first Presbytery in America was established in Philadelphia in 1706. Presbyterians formed a
large percentage of those involved in the American Revolutionary War - so much so that at one
point, according to some reports, it was labeled the "Presbyterian rebellion" in the British House
of Commons. The Presbyterian form of representative government was evidently an inspiration
to those setting up the rules for civil government, and the Presbyterian Reverend John
Witherspoon was the only clergyman to sign the Declaration of Independence (something
regarded with no little pride by Presbyterians today).
Presbyterians believe that the Bible was "inspired," in the sense that God speaks through human
authors and that, because the source is ultimately God, that these scriptures are infallible. As with
other Protestant churches, belief and practice are derived from the Bible and not from tradition,
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which is accorded a very minor role. Presbyterians engage in infant baptism, although they do
not believe that a person has to be baptized in order to go to heaven.
Some of the wording in the Westminster Confession of Faith implies a belief in predestination,
but this particularly doctrine was decisively rejected in the Declaratory Statement of 1903. This
states, in part, that humans are "fully responsible" for their acceptance or rejection of salvation
from God and that no one is condemned except through sin.
Presbyterians are today the largest and most theologically liberal of all American Protestant
denominations. The church does not attempt to legislate for its members any personal moral
issues - thus, questions about things like birth control and abortion are left up to the individual.
Presbyterians also ordain women as ministers and they are permitted to hold any church office.
The generally liberal attitudes are not, however, necessarily characteristic of all Presbyterians.
Like most churches, there exists both conservative and liberal factions within the church - and
their division does, at times, threaten to cause an internal schism. A current debate between
conservatives and liberals involves the question of whether or not Jesus is the "savior of the
world."
Conservatives favor a short, simple statement to the effect that faith in Jesus is necessary for
salvation and that Jesus is the only way to God. Rev. Nancy Gillard of Missouri, for example,
endorses the statement "Jesus Christ is the only Savior and Lord, and all people everywhere are
called to place their faith, hope and love in him." Liberals, however, favor a more complex
theological statement which does not, in the words of Rev. James Belle of North Carolina,
"reduce Jesus to sound bites."
6. Following the Reformation the Church of England that was under the Roman Pope
separated from the Pope when King Henry VIII (1491 – 1547) desired to divorce the
then Queen Catherine of Aargon, who was a devout Catholic. She fought him in the
Vatican and he ended up separating from Rome and the Church of England became
separate from Rome with the King as the head of the church. Aware that the pope
would have him excommunicated, Henry went on the offensive, and he had Parliament
pass a flurry of laws denying papal authority and legally validating Henry’s claim to be
the “only supreme head in earth of the Church of England” (Act of Supremacy, 1534).
The actions of England's past monarchs did not especially qualify them to be heads of
the Church of England. Henry VIII beheaded several of his wives There was a brief
Catholic restoration under Queen Mary, during which the burning of numerous
Protestant heretics earned her the sobriquet “Bloody Mary,” but when she died in 1558,
her devoutly Protestant half-sister Elizabeth became England’s queen.
7. The Protestant Church that started as one under Martin Luther is now broken into several
thousand denominations. The Major Protestant Denominations include: Lutheran, Episcopalian
(Church of England), Presbyterian, Methodist, Assembly of God, United Church of Christ,
Puritan, Congregational, Mennonites, Amish, Hutterites, Quakers, Plymouth, Baptists, etc. Cults
include: Mormon, Jehovah Witness, Seventh Day Adventists, Unitarian, etc.
4.2
The heresy of Paul of Samoosta
In the year 280 A.D. a Holy (local) Council assembled in an Antiochian church to judge
Paul of Samosata. He was a native of Samosata, and he was chosen a Patriarch of
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Antioch. Satan sowed in his mind the belief that the Lord Christ was a simple, ordinary
man whom God had created and chosen to redeem the human beings; and that Christ
was entirely Mary's offspring and that Divinity did not unite with Jesus but joined Him by
the will only and that God is one person, so he did not believe in the Son or the Holy
Spirit.
Because of him, a council assembled in the city of Antioch during the reign of Emperor
Valerian and the papacy of Abba Dionysius, 14th Pope of Alexandria, which was 45
years before the Council of Nicea. Because Abba Dionysius was old, he was not able to
convene with them, so he wrote a letter stating the belief that the Lord Christ is the
Word of God, and His Son, and is equal to Him in essence, in divinity and in being
eternal. The Holy Trinity is Three Persons by character, in one God-head. One Person
of the Trinity is the Son incarnated and became in Hypostatic Union, a complete man.
Abba Dionysius testified concerning these things using many testimonies from the Old
and the New Testaments and he sent this letter with two priests of the church scholars.
Thirteen bishops and the two priests assembled in that council. They brought that Paul
and asked him about the heresy that he was teaching. He declared it to them and did
not deny anything. They debated the matter with him and read to him the letter of Abba
Dionysius and made him listen to what the Apostles said about the Lord Christ the Word
of God that He is, "The brightness of His glory. And the express image of His person."
(Hebrews 1:3) But he did not accept their words, and he would not turn from his infidel
opinion. They excommunicated him, and all those who believed his words, and they
exiled him. The fathers put forth the Canons, which are still in the hands of the believers
who follow them to this day.
4.3
The Heresy of the People of Bani-Omar
(Assembly of a Holy Council on the island of Bani-Omar)
A Holy Council convened on the island of Bani-Omar against those people called the
Fourteenthians. The Fourteenthians celebrated the feast of the Holy Easter with the
Jews on the fourteenth of the crescent of Neesan (April) which was on any day of the
week. The Bishop of the island excommunicated them, and sent to Serapion Patriarch
of Antioch, Democratus Bishop of Rome, Demetrius Patriarch of Alexandria, and
Symmachus Bishop of Jerusalem to inform them of the heresy of these people. Each
one of them sent an epistle indicating in it that Easter was only to be celebrated on the
Sunday that follows the feast of the Jews and ordered to excommunicate everyone that
contradict and disobey that.
A council of eighteen bishops convened and these holy epistles were read to them.
They brought those heretics and read before them these epistles, some of them
returned from their wrong opinion and the others insisted on their error. They prevented
and excommunicated them from the Holy Church. Also, they decided to celebrate
Easter as the order of the Holy Apostles saying: "Any one that celebrate Easter on any
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other day than Sunday, had shared the Jews in their feasts and separated from the
Christians."
The dispute on the feast of the Christian Passover (Easter) started between Asia Minor
and Rome. Polycarp, Bishop of Smyrna, publicly announced the need of keeping the
14th of Neesan to commemorate the Crucifixion and the 16th of Neesan to
commemorate the Resurrection (These were the original dates that the Crucifixion and
Resurrection fall on regardless what day of the week they fell on) and the Christians of
Mesopotamia, Cilicia, and Syria followed his opinion. Victor, Bishop of Rome, publicly
announced the importance of putting into consideration that the Crucifixion be on a
Friday and the Resurrection be on a Sunday, (since Friday is the day of the Crucifixion
and Sunday is the day of the Resurrection). The Christians of Egypt, Greece, Pontus
and Arabia agreed with him in that. The dispute between the two bishops intensified,
nevertheless their friendship remained unchanged.
Alexandria intervened in this subject, and its Patriarch Anba Demetrius the vine dresser
(El-Karram), tried to mediate between these two opinions (By making the
commemoration of the Crucifixion on Friday and the Resurrection on Sunday), and to
be linked to the day 14th of Neesan (The Jewish Passover).
Pope Demetrius gathered the Alexandrian astronomers, among them was Ptolemy the
astronomer which was from Farma, and with their help the Patriarch established the
reckoning of the Epacts, which is known by the reckoning of El-Karmah. The reckoning
of the Epacts was able to determine the day of the Jewish Passover (The slaughter of
the Lamb) in any Egyptian Coptic year, and fix the Sunday after to be the Feast of
Resurrection. This way he fulfilled what the Apostles commend that the Jewish
Passover and the Christian one not to be on the same day.
The first Universal council that convened in Nicea, 325 A.D. approved that view and
asked the Alexandrian Pope to issue a message on the feast and its date every year.
4.4
Arios and the Heresy of Arios:
(Convening the First Universal Council in Nicea, 325 AD)
Towards the end of the third century when persecution was at its highest level ever, that was
when Diocletian was the Emperor of Rome and Peter (The Seal of the Martyrs) was Pope and
Patriarch, a priest was ordained in Alexandria whose name was Arios. He was gifted in public
speaking and knowledgeable in the Greek Language that was the language of the intellectuals
rather than Latin that was the official language of the Empire. Arios became very well know in
Alexandria because of his famous orations. Two priests who knew Arios well accused him to the
Patriarch Alexander that Arios denied the divinity of Christ many times in his public sermons. It
was known to the Patriarch Alexander that his predecessor Archlaus accepted Arios although his
predecessor, Patriarch Peter warned against his teachings.
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When the Patriarch Alexander received the accusation against Arios, he immediately called a
local council of bishops from all the surrounding regions, meaning the other parts of Egypt and
most likely also bishops from Libya and Palestine were called to the meeting. The Council
looked into the accusations against Arios and called on him to stop his teachings that are not
acceptable to the bishops, but he defied the advise and increased his boldness in spreading his
teachings in public and private meetings. This displeased his bishop, the Patriarch and made him
call for a public council of all the bishops of his reign that included Egypt and Libya at the time.
The council had no difficulty at all in seeing the error of Arios, and they signed unanimously a
decree to defrock Arios and two bishops that supported him from their priestly ranks. But
because of his boldness and pretentious nature he continued to perform the duties of priesthood
and to speak from pulpit and increased his attack on the decree against him and against those
who opposed him. This stubborn defiance made it necessary for the patriarch to exile Arios from
Alexandria and to publish the decree and reasoning behind the decree against Arios in the whole
empire. This made Arios run away from Egypt and move to Palestine. In Palestine he found
some that sympathized with him (knowing always that he used sweet words to deceive his
audience, and was known to change his statements to gain the sympathy of the listeners), so he
got the ear (sympathy) of some bishops outside Egypt. He then started to work on bishops to
make them take his side, and trying to convince them that the Patriarch Alexander is not the one
who follows the "true orthodox faith" and that they need to stand up to Alexander in favor of
Arios and his claim of being "the one who follows the true faith"
These efforts had a limited success, and was able to bring to his side Theoghnous the
Metropolitan of Nicea and Josephus (Joseph) the bishop of Nicodemia. This worked because on
a visit of the Emperor to Nicodemia, the bishop asked the Emperor to accept Arios and his
teachings and help him against his bishop in Alexandria. Moreover, Arios started to publish
songs and hymnals that were deceiving expressions of his doctrine written so cleverly that it was
hard to judge the thoughts as heretic thoughts. The Emperor called on Osimos, the elderly bishop
of Qurtoba (Cordoba, Spain) who also experienced persecution under a king before Constantine's
reign, and asked his advice concerning the petition of Arios. The bishop came to see the Emperor
with a group of bishops and it was recommended that Osimos should go to Alexandria to discuss
the matter with the Patriarch Alexander. He traveled to Alexandria with a group of bishops with
a letter to the Patriarch from the Emperor asking him to accept a reconciliation with Arios, and a
similar letter to Arios asking him to be reconciled with his bishop, but the argument increased
and the gap became wider when the Metropolitan met with the Patriarch in Alexandria.
Metropolitan Osimos immediately wrote to the Emperor recommending a Council to be held
quickly for all the bishops of the Empire (Universal Council). He also asked for taking the
opportunity to resolve other issues such as an agreement on the date of Paschal Feast and an
agreement on the requirements and practices of Baptism, etc. Immediately, the emperor made a
decree calling the bishops of the empire to a Council, that became known as the First Universal
Council. The emperor chose Nicea in Asia minor as the location to hold the council and to
provide ships and funds for their travel and in short order, 318 bishops were assembled in Nicea
including Alexander the Patriarch of Alexandria and the young deacon Athanassius his disciple.
Also in attendance was Makarius the bishop of Jerusalem (a very high post), Astasius the bishop
of Antioch (Syria), and Osimos the bishop of Cordoba who was the one who recommended
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having a universal council. Also was present Baphnotius a bishop from southern Egypt who was
known for his great struggle for the orthodox faith, who was known and liked by the emperor
because he enjoyed hearing his stories concerning the struggle to establish the orthodox faith.
Also was present James (Yacoub) the bishop Nesbit and Mar-aphraam his disciple, but Sal Peter
the bishop of Rome was unable to attend because of old age, and instead sent two priests to
represent him (Wayten and Wakindus?).
From those who took Arios side came the bishop of Nicodemia, Theoghnus the bishop of Nicea,
Mars the Metropolitan of Chalcedon, and with them 10 philosophers and a multitude of priest,
deacons and commoners mostly as spectators to watch the two sides arguing with preference for
one side or the other. The Council was given a large hall in the palace of the emperor in Nicea
and there was preparations for chairs around a large table and a special golden Chair for the
emperor. When the Emperor entered the hall, he refused to sit on the golden chair and took one
at the other end of the table, but the heads of the bishops insisted that he sits on the chair
prepared for the emperor and after he did the bishops sat with the head bishops on his sides. It is
believed that Osimaos was the chairman of the Council, but it could be another. Also in
attendance was Josephus the famous historian who was known in the empire and was asked to
give an oration (Keynote speech) and he was delighted to give an impromptu speech on this
momentous meeting in which he welcomed the Emperor and thanked him for honoring the
meeting with his attendance and thanked the bishops for their coming to the meeting.
Before the formal meetings started arguments already started between the two sides. Those
against Arios and those who were against his teachings. The young deacon Athanassius was the
star of the "orthodox side" because of his high intellect and great knowledge of the theology and
teachings of the “one holy apostolic universal” Church.
When the formal meeting started, the Patriarch Alexander because of his old age asked that
Athanassius speaks for his side and was granted his request. The discussions were extremely
very long philosophical arguments that both sides were able to produce from the books of the
Church and other theological and philosophical sources. Here is a sample from one discussion
that took place between the two sides:
1. Arios stated that Solomon the wise said:
Proverbs 8
22
"The LORD brought me forth as the first of his works, before his deeds of old”; with
Arios trying to say that the Lord Created me, and since in his thinking the verse is a
reference to Christ then according to Arios it meant Christ was created. The response of
Athanassius was in correcting the meaning of the Greek Word that the word meant
possessed rather than brought forth and in this the key of the proposition that Christ was
born of the father before all ages and that Christ was born of the father and not created.
And that meaning is borne by the words of the psalm: 1 The LORD said to my Lord, "Sit
at My right hand, till I make Your enemies Your footstool." (Psalm 110:1)
2. Arios: The son said that “my father is greater than I” (John 14:28) and to Arios that means
that the Son is Less than the Father"
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Athansassius: "It is true that by Incarnation the Son made himself lesser than the Father, but
in the same passage he says: "He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say,
"Show us the Father'? 10Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The
words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in
Me does the works. 11Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me, or else believe
Me for the sake of the works themselves." (John14: 9-11).
3. Arios: "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19Go therefore[3] and
make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and
of the Holy Spirit, 20 (Matt 28:19) that meant to Arios that Christ is less than the father.
Athanassius: Again by Incarnation he was given the authority but the rest of the passage
says: "baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit"
equating himself to the Father and the Holy Spirit so he is equal to the father, of the same
essence.
4. Arios: Christ stated that he does not know the day of the hour of the second coming neither
he nor the angels of his Father. So, if he does not know the day or the hour how can he be
god?
Athanassius: He said that to his disciples because he did not want them to ask him about
something he knows that is not to tell them, because it is a secret that is not to be told. It was
like saying I know but it is not for you to know, so I will not be able to tell you especially
that the way Peter paused the Question included the admission that you know everything!
5. Arios: "30I can of Myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is righteous,
because I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent Me." (John 5:30).
Athanassius: " Christ in many places stated the he is lesser than the Father when he was
speaking about his Incarnation, becoming man. So, this does not lessen his being one with
the Father in divinity. Did he not say that I am in the Father and the Father in me, I am one
with the Father. As the Father does raise the dead, so does the Son so that everyone who
honors the Father honors the Son Also" Many of the saying of Christ stated that he is One
with the Father Equal in Divinity to His Father.
6. Arios: The Gospel of John says: "He was in the beginning with God. 3All things were
made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. 4In Him was life, and
the life was the light of men. 5And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not
comprehend[1] it.(John 1:3) And by this Arios argued that it means that the Son was a tool
used by God to cause creation. [Argument used frequently by Gnostics to argue that Christ is
on of many lesser gods created by a supreme god to do specific actions such as the creation,
to preach to teach, to help, to hinder (tempt), etc.]
Athanassius: At this point Athanassius gave a long dissertation on the equality (oneness) of
the Son with the Father. And he gave the example of the saying: “The king built the city by
his son.” And Athanassius argued that it meant that the King and His Son are equal in the act
of building the city, so also the Father by Him created heavens and earth meaning the
equality of the Father and the Son in the Creation and he continued by quoting St. John in 1
John 1:1 ("1 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen
with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, concerning the
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Word of life-- 2the life was manifested, and we have seen, and bear witness, and declare to
you that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested to us-- 3that which we
have seen and heard we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly
our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ. 4And these things we write to
you that your[1] joy may be full. ") Also in I John 5:7 ("7For there are three that bear witness
in heaven: the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit; and these three are one") and in the
Revelation 1:8 ("8I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End,"[3] says the
Lord,[4] "who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty."); and in Revelation 5:13 it
says: ("13And every creature which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and such
as are in the sea, and all that are in them, I heard saying: "Blessing and honor and glory and
power
Be to Him who sits on the throne,
And to the Lamb, forever and ever!"[7]"); and the first verse of the Gospel of John states
clearly that the Son was with Father from the beginning: ("1) 1 In the beginning was the
Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2He was in the beginning with
God. 3All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.
4
In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5And the light shines in the darkness, and
the darkness did not comprehend[1] it.") so how can anyone say that the Son is not God.
Because by that the Psalmist David directed his speech to God saying: Psalm 102
24
I said, "O my God, Do not take me away in the midst of my days; Your years are
throughout all generations. 25Of old You laid the foundation of the earth, And the heavens
are the work of Your hands. 26They will perish, but You will endure; Yes, they will all grow
old like a garment;
Like a cloak You will change them, And they will be changed."}. And this the Apostle St.
Paul understood very well when he wrote in Hebrews: "10And: "You, LORD, in the
beginning laid the foundation of the earth, And the heavens are the work of Your hands.
11
They will perish, but You remain; And they will all grow old like a garment; 12Like a cloak
You will fold them up, And they will be changed. But You are the same, And Your years
will not fail."[8] 13But to which of the angels has He ever said: "Sit at My right hand, Till I
make Your enemies Your footstool"?[9]").
The arguments of the deacon Athanassius were more than enough to convince a reasonable
person to come back to the fold of the "true orthodox Church" but Arios chose to continue in the
error of his ways, exactly like Judas Iscariot choosing to hang himself after he betrayed his
master. These were preliminary debates even before the council had its first meeting.
4.4.1 The Meetings of the Council of Nicea:
When the opening meeting took place and after the speeches, the emperor gave his instructions
that the debate should be conducted in a way that allows each side the free expression of its
views but he asked that the council shall come up with opinion that agreed to by all, because he
had great hope that the bishops will resolve all the issues and lead the Church in the Empire in
full agreement with each other. The bishops argued with Arios and his camp but could not
convince him of their views. The debate was heated and the arguments came from both sides but
at the end the majority of the bishops agreed on the Creed of Faith that was drafted by the deacon
Athanassius in which they stated that: we believe in one God, the Father, and the Son, and the
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Holy Spirit. That the Son is equal to the Father in essence. And that the Holy Spirit is one with
the Father and the Son. They also stated that the Son was incarnated (became flesh) was born as
human from the Virgin Mary and the Holy Spirit. That he lived, suffered, was crucified, died on
the cross and he arose from the dead on the third day.
The Council of Nicea produced 20 Canons, as follows:
4.4.2 THE CANONS OF THE 318 HOLY FATHERS ASSEMBLED IN THE CITY OF
NICE, IN BITHYNIA.
CANON II.
FORASMUCH as, either from necessity, or through the urgency of individuals, many things
have been done contrary to the Ecclesiastical canon, so that men just converted from heathenism
to the faith, and who have been instructed but a little while, are straightway brought to the
spiritual layer, and as soon as they have been baptized, are advanced to the episcopate or the
presbyterate, it has seemed right to us that for the time to come no such thing shall be done. For
to the catechumen himself there is need of time and of a longer trial after baptism. For the
apostolical saying is clear, "Not a novice; lest, being lifted up with pride, he fall into
condemnation and the snare of the devil." But if, as time goes on, any sensual sin should be
found out about the person, and he should be convicted by two or three witnesses, let him cease
from the clerical office. And whoso shall transgress these[enactments] will imperil his own
clerical position, as a person who presumes to disobey fie great Synod.
CANON VI.
LET the ancient customs in Egypt, Libya and Pentapolis prevail, that the Bishop of Alexandria
have jurisdiction in all these, since the like is customary for the Bishop of Rome also. Likewise
in Antioch and the other provinces, let the Churches retain their privileges. And this is to be
universally understood, that if any one be made bishop without the consent of the Metropolitan,
the great Synod has declared that such a man ought not to be a bishop. If, however, two or three
bishops shall from natural love of contradiction, oppose the common suffrage of the rest, it being
reasonable and in accordance with the ecclesiastical law, then let the choice of the majority
prevail.
CANON VIII.
CONCERNING those who call themselves Cathari, if they come over to the Catholic and
Apostolic Church, the great and holy Synod decrees that they who are ordained shall continue as
they are in the clergy. But it is before all things necessary that they should profess in writing that
they will observe and follow the dogmas of the Catholic and Apostolic Church; in particular that
they will communicate with persons who have been twice married, and with those who having
lapsed in persecution have had a period [of penance] laid upon them, and a time [of restoration]
fixed so that in all things they will follow the dogmas of the Catholic Church. Wheresoever,
then, whether in villages or in cities, all of the ordained are found to be of these only, let them
remain in the clergy, and in the same rank in which they are found. But if they come over where
there is a bishop or presbyter of the Catholic Church, it is manifest that the Bishop of the Church
must have the bishop's dignity; and he who was named bishop by those who are called Cathari
shall have the rank of presbyter, unless it shall seem fit to the Bishop to admit him to partake in
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the honour of the title. Or, if this should not be satisfactory, then shall the bishop provide for him
a place as Chorepiscopus, or presbyter, in order that he may be evidently seen to be of the clergy,
and that there may not be two bishops in the city.
CANON XI.
CONCERNING those who have fallen without compulsion, without the spoiling of their
property, without danger or the like, as happened during the tyranny of Licinius, the Synod
declares that, though they have deserved no clemency, they shall be dealt with mercifully. As
many as were communicants, if they heartily repent, shall pass three years among the hearers; for
seven years they shall be prostrators; and for two years they shall communicate with the people
in prayers, but without oblation.
CANON XV.
ON account of the great disturbance and discords that occur, it is decreed that the custom
prevailing in certain places contrary to the Canon, must wholly be done away; so that neither
bishop, presbyter, nor deacon shall pass from city to city. And if any one, after this decree of the
holy and great Synod, shall attempt any such thing, or continue in any such course, his
proceedings shall be utterly void, and he shall be restored to the Church for which he was
ordained bishop or presbyter.
CANON XIX.
CONCERNING the Paulianists who have flown for refuge to the Catholic Church, it has been
decreed that they must by all means be rebaptized; and if any of them who in past time have been
numbered among their clergy should be found blameless and without reproach, let them be
rebaptized and ordained by the Bishop of the Catholic Church; but if the examination should
discover them to be unfit, they ought to be deposed. Likewise in the case of their deaconesses,
and generally in the case of those who have been enrolled among their clergy, let the same form
be observed. And we mean by deaconesses such as have assumed the habit, but who, since they
have no imposition of hands, are to be numbered only among the laity.
selected from Henry R. Percival, ed.,The Seven Ecumenical Councils of the Undivided Church,
Vol XIV of Nicene and Post Nicene Fathers, 2nd series, edd. Philip Schaff and Henry Wace,
(repr. Edinburgh: T&T Clark; Grand Rapids MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1988)
The side of Arios (Arios and his supporters) pretended that they agreed but in reality they were
not willing to accept the decisions of the first council that was if anything the first and only
council in which the Christian church was one. At that point the council found it important to
issue a decree of the Christian faith. This decree was drafted mostly by the deacon Athanassius
who wrote a thesis containing biblical arguments to support every single verse. But the council
found it not necessary to publish the whole thesis but only the abbreviated statement known as
the Nicean Creed of Faith. Here is the English translation of the Nicean Creed according to the
Orthodox Churches:
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4.4.3 The Creed of Orthodox Faith
Traditional Wording
I believe in one Lord Jesus Christ,
the only begotten Son of God, begotten of his
Father before all worlds, God of God, Light of
Light, very God of very God, begotten, not
made, being of one substance with the Father;
by whom all things were made;
who for us men and for our salvation
came down from heaven, and was incarnate by
the Holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary, and was
made man; and was crucified also for us under
Pontius Pilate; he suffered and was buried;
and the third day he rose again according to the
Scriptures, and ascended into heaven,
and sitteth on the right hand of the Father;
and he shall come again, with glory,
to judge both the quick and the dead;
whose kingdom shall have no end.
I believe in one God, the Father Almighty,
maker of heaven and earth,
and of all things visible and invisible;
And I believe in the Holy Ghost the Lord, and
Giver of Life, who proceedeth from the Father;
who with the Father and the Son together
is worshipped and glorified; who spake by the
Prophets.
And I believe one holy Catholic and Apostolic
Church; I acknowledge one baptism for the
remission of sins; and I look for the
resurrection of the dead, and the life of the
world to come. AMEN.
Modern Wording
We believe in one God,
the Father, the Almighty,
creator of heaven and earth,
of all that is, seen and unseen.
We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ,
the only begotten son of God,
begotten and not made. Of the same essense
with the Father. Light of Light, true God from
true God, Through him all things were made.
For us and for our salvation
He came down from heaven:
He was incarnated from the Holy Spirit and the
Virgin Mary, and became Man.
For our salvation He was crucified under
Pontius Pilate;
he suffered death and was buried.
On the third day he rose again
in accordance with the Scriptures;
he ascended into heaven
and sat at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again in glory
to judge the living and the dead,
and his kingdom will have no end.
We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the
giver of life, who proceeds from the Father
With the Father and the Son
he is worshipped and glorified.
He has spoken through the Prophets.
We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic
Church. We acknowledge one baptism for the
forgiveness of sins. We look for the
resurrection of the dead, and the life of the
world to come. AMEN.
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The Council of Nicea, excommunicated Arios and all that follow his teachings, but it did not
fully settle the argument between Arios and the Church and in the years that followed he
continued to fight for his point of view using politics that he mastered until he died. Athanassius
continued to fight the heresies of Arios as a deacon and later on as the 20th Pope and Patriarch of
Alexandria when he was recommended to the Chair of St. Mark by his mentor Pope Alexander
and by the will of the Church of Egypt bishops, priests, deacons and commoners rich and poor.
The war against Arios produced some of the greatest writing about the Incarnation of the Son
and the divinity of Christ that are the standard of the Orthodox faith to this day, because even
after the schism all sides agree when they debate theology when one can refer to a hard issue and
be able to quote St. Athanassius on the subject of the argument, they call it Athanassius faith (the
orthodox faith according to Athanassius of Alexandria), a statement that makes any Egyptian
Christian very proud. The war that ensued between Arios and Athanassius cost Athanassius
imprisonment and 5 Exiles as a Patriarch (Bishop of Alexandria) by Constantine and his two
sons that followed him in ruling the empire. The fifth exile was ordered but not executed because
the people of Alexandria had enough of the Byzantines and made a human shield to prevent the
soldiers from reaching the Great Cathedral in Alexandria where the Patriarch resided.
St. Athanassius was exiled 5 times because of the many accusations lodged against him by Arios
and his followers. Athanassius departed in peace in the year 373 after being on the chair of St.
Mark for 45 years?
4.4.4. The Five Exiles of St. Athanasius:
Saint Athanassius was ordered exiled five times by Constantine and his two sons who ruled after
him:
4.4.4.1. The First Exile:
Arius, after he had been excommunicated, tried to return to Alexandria, by sending a
misleading and flattering letter to Emperor Constantine, which touched him. The
Emperor asked Pope Athanasius to take him back. Athanasius refused to accept him
because that would be a contradiction to the decision of the Universal Council.
The Arians accused Pope Athanasius with these charges:
1. That he supported pope Philominus who rebelled against the government.
2. That he broke the communion cup of the priest Eskira, and destroyed his altar.
3. That he killed bishop Arsanius, and used his arms in sorcery.
4. That he also raped a nun.
The Pope cleared himself from the first charge. A council was assembled in Tyre, most
of the attendants were Arians, were against Athanasius to look into these charges. In
the second charge, the Lord moved the priest Eskira's heart, who had conspired with
them to testify falsely against him, and he cleared the Pope from that charge.
With regard of the third charge, Arsanius the bishop, who had agreed with them to
accuse the Pope falsely for his murder, came to the council. Pope Athanasius kept him
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in an adjacent room. The Arians brought two arms of a dead person and claimed that
they were the arms of Arsanius. Then Arsanius was brought in, and showed his arms to
the council and declared his regrets. The Arians said that Athanasius was a sorcerer
and he was able to make arms for him. They became violent against Arsanius who left
the council and went to the Emperor.
Then they looked in the matter of the rape, they brought a harlot who claimed that
Athanasius raped her. One of the entourage of Pope Athanasius, a priest called
Timothy said to her: "How dare you to say that I came to your house, and overpowered
your will?" She thought that the priest was Athanasius for she did not know him, and
she said: "You are". At once the false claim was exposed.
Athanasius could not meet the Emperor because of the interferences of the Arians, who
accused him before the Emperor that he prevented the export of the wheat from
Alexandria to the Emperor. The Emperor gave his order to exile Athanasius to Trefe
(Treves) in France in February 5th., 335 A.D. where its bishop had met him with great
honor.
Arius died a horrible death as Socrates said: "God made Arius to die in a public
washroom, where his bowels poured out of his body, and the people regarded his death
as a punishment from the Divine Justice."
When the Emperor heard about the death of Arius, he recognized the innocence of
Athanasius, and recommended while he was on his death bed, in the year 337 A.D. that
Athanasius be returned to Alexandria. After the departure of Constantine, the Empire
was divided, Constantine II over France, Egypt became under the rule of Constantius,
and Constance over Italy. With the mediation of Constantine, the Pope returned in the
year 338 A.D. The people of Alexandria received him with great joy.
4.4.4.2. The Second Exile:
The Arians did not stop at that, but assembled a council, where they excommunicated
Athanasius. They appointed instead someone called Gregory, and they sent their
decision to Julius, Bishop of Rome. Pope Athanasius assembled a council in Alexandria
in 340 A.D. where he protested against the Arians, then he wrote a letter to all the
churches to declare his innocence.
However, the Arians influenced Philogorius to help to install their appointed Patriarch
Gregory to take over the churches of Alexandria, and they also influenced Emperor
Constantius. The people of Alexandria were horrified, and decided to resist, but the
Arians attacked the churches in Alexandria on Good Friday, raped and slained many
worshipers.
Pope Athanasius sought the help of all the churches in the world, left his Chair, and
traveled to Rome. A council was assembled in Sardica, where they declared:
a. The innocence of Pope Athanasius
b. Confirmed the cannons and the Creed of faith of the Council of Nicea.
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c. They excommunicated the Arian bishops.
d. Deposed Gregory from his office.
They delegated two bishops to meet Emperor Constans, the ruler of Italy, who agreed
on what the council had decided, and threatened his brother Emperor Constantius with
war if he did not return Athanasius to Alexandria. At the same time, some Egyptian
radicals rose up and killed Gregory in 349 A.D. Athanasius returned for the second time
to his Chair, and the people received him with joy. Gregory the Theologian, the writer of
the liturgy, described this reception saying: "The people came as the flood of the Nile,"
and he also pointed out to the palm branches, the carpets, and the many clapping
hands.
4.4.4.3. The Third Exile:
The Arians did not like the return of Athanasius to Alexandria, and waited unwillingly
until the death of Emperor Constans. The Arians accused Athanasius before
Constantius that he collaborated with Magneutius who was the enemy of the Emperor.
Constantius obtained a condemnation of Athanasius and his exile from a council
assembled at Arles and another one at Milan. The soldiers went to the church of St.
Mary which was built by Pope Theonas (The 16th. Patriarch). Athanasius was praying
the Vespers service. The soldiers rushed inside the church to arrest him, but God
blinded them from recognizing him from the rest of the people and the lamps were
extinguished. Athanasius escaped and went to the desert, and remained for sometime
with the monks. The Arians appointed George of Cappadocia, bishop on Alexandria, but
the Orthodox refused to accept him and anathematized him. He took over all the
churches and its properties. Nevertheless, the pagans whom he persecuted, killed him
and burnt his body.
4.4.4.4. The Fourth Exile:
After the death of Constantius, Julian his cousin became Emperor. He wanted to rally
the people of Alexandria so he returned Athanasius. Athanasius assembled a council in
362 A.D., and provided conditions for the acceptance of the Arians that wish to return to
the church. He also gave a special attention to the preaching among the pagans. This
was not appreciated by Emperor Julian, who loved and supported the pagans.
He ordered the arrest of Athanasius. Athanasius went out of Alexandria, and took a boat
to Upper Egypt. The Governor followed him in another boat, and when he approached
the boat of Athanasius, he asked about the boat of the Pope. They said to him that he
was not too far away. The Governor went on his way in hurry but he did not find
Athanasius, for he hid himself in another place.
Those around the Pope were greatly saddened because of the much tribulations that
befell him. Athanasius told them, that in times of persecution, he felt great inner peace
and that God took care of him and embraced him with His grace more than any other
time in his life. He also said: "The persecution of Emperor Julian is like a summer cloud
that will go away." While they were in these conversation, the news came to them that
Julian was killed in his war with the Persians, and that he was killed by St. Mercurius
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(Abu Sefain), and that he said just before his death: "You have overcome me, O You
son of Mary."
4.4.4.5. The Fifth Exile:
Jovian became Emperor after Julian had been killed, then Valens became Emperor and
he was Arian. In 367 A.D. valens ordered the exile of Athanasius again. Athanasius was
forced to leave Alexandria and hid in the tomb of his father. Meanwhile, the Emperor
killed 30 bishops who were pro-Athanasius. The Emperor saw the determination of the
Copts, and decided to lift the persecution, and to return Athanasius to his Chair in 368
A.D.
Although Athanasius reached the age of 72, he did not compromise in performing his
duties. For his steadfastness and his firm stand for justice, the world described him by
the saying: "Athanasius against the world."
He wrote several books about the Arians, on the Incarnation, and other subjects. Abba
Cosma (The 44th. Patriarch) praised these publications by saying: "I ask anyone who
would find the books of Athanasius to write them on paper, and for those who could not
find paper, to write them on their clothes."
Athanasius was the first Pope to wear the monastic tunic from the hand of St. Antonios.
He made it the uniform for bishops and patriarchs. He was the one who ordained St.
Antonios a priest, and then Archpriest.
He departed in peace after he had been on the Apostolic Throne for forty five years.
Arios was exiled to the Lercon? The two bishops that supported him were first excommunicated
but on the way to exile they both repented and came back to the Council. The Council was kind
to them and they returned them back to their seats, but Arios never repented. The heresy of Arios
was a grave disobedience, sin against the Church that caused a big steer in the whole Roman
Empire. It could have been a good example of the things not to do, but unfortunately it did not
stop heresies or heretics from spreading their ideas and destructive beliefs.
The Emperor Constantine was a well-meaning Monarch, but he failed to stop this heresy and
more heresies plagued the empire and the Church as well. Constantine himself was a beginner in
the Christian Faith when the Council of Nicea took place in 325 AD. It is also reported that he
was not baptized until a week before his death. He and his mother Queen Helen (Helena) are
considered saints in the Church because of all the good things they did to make the religion of
the crucified Nazarene the Religion of their empire. Helen, the mother of Constantine traveled to
Palestine and uncovered the place of the skull (Golgotha) and uncovered the three crosses and
built a church at the location of the burial that is the Church of the Holy Sepulture in the city of
Jerusalem. She also traveled to Egypt and other places in the Empire where holy men lived or
martyrs were executed to build Churches in their honor.
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Constantinepole is present day Istanbul was built by the emperor Constantine when he moved the
seat of rule from Rome to Asia Minor at this strategic location where Europe and Asia Minor
meet at the basfour? A water way that ties the Mediterranean to the Black See?
Agi Sophia (The Place of Wisdom) is the most famous Church Constantine built in his new city
Constantinepole. The Church was converted to a mosque by the Ottoman Turks and was turned
into a Museum in the 20the century by Kamal Ataturrk the secular ruler that turned Turkey into a
"secular state"
4.5
The Heresies of Macedonius, Appolinarius, and Aphodius
(Convening the Council of Constantinepole: 381 AD)
More than 50 years after the Great Council of Nicea was concluded, new "heresies" developed,
accumulated and needed to be addressed by the "One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Orthodox
Church" At that time Timothy ("teemoothaoes") was pope and patriarch in Alexandria. Damasus
was Pope of Rome. The reluctance of Rome to attend this council was even more grave than
before. The Emperor Theodosius the Great called the bishops to the conference and although
Rome did not attend and did not send representatives they were called to attend by the Emperor
in all the letters that were found that were sent by the emperor to all the bishops of the empire at
that time.
The reluctance was caused by the strong feeling in Rome that Alexandria will dominate the
meeting as it did in Nicea. However, Rome wrote to all the bishops that were invited to the
conference supporting the purpose of the meeting, but asking them to meet in Rome instead. At
this point 150 bishops were already convened in Constantinepole the true capital that took the
place of Rome 70 years or so before. The bishops convened in Constantinepole wrote back that
they are already where they were by invitation from the emperor and there was no need to move
the meeting, besides it would have caused inconvenience and delays to move the meeting to
Rome. Also, in order to prove to Rome that there is no division between the Churches they
selected two bishops: Yousebius (Joseph) and Persilian to travel to Rome to assure the Pope that
there was no division in the Church between the West and the East and that the meeting was
convened in Constantineploe, the capital, as requested by the Righteous Emperor Theodosius to
look into matters presented by the emperor to the bishops of the Church and it was not an Eastern
Orthodox Council as some wanted to say, but it was in reality a Universal Council of the "true
orthodox" Church.
The Council of Constantinepole was convened in May 381 AD. 56 years after the Council of
Nicea. The response came only from the bishops of the East. Those in the West did not care to
attend and wanted to move the meeting to Rome that was not acceptable to the others who were
already convened. Only 150 bishops mostly from the Eastern Churches convened in
Constantinepole to look into several issues that developed since Nicea in 325 AD. The council
main agenda included four topics: 1) The heresy of Macdonius concerning the Holy Spirit; 2)
The Heresy of Sabillius that was renewed through Macelle of Ankaria; 3) The Heresy of
Apollinarius; and 4) The discord between the seats of Antioch and Constantinepole that has
caused the two churches to loose the harmony they used to enjoy!
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When it was decided that the council would meet where it was convened the proceedings started.
It was important to note that the fact that the council was convened without Rome was an
important indication that the Holy Universal Church does not depend on one seat to be Universal
and did weaken the claim by some Roman Catholic Historians that Rome is the superior Church
(Supremacy of Peter Belief). Also, some of the bishops of the east who attended were very well
known for their knowledge and writings and they did actively participate in the discussion and
arguments. These included Gregorius of Nicea and His Brother Bassellius the Great, the bishop
of Caesaria. They both spoke at the council and some of their words concerning the Holy Spirit
are quoted here:
Gregorius of Nicea: "The Holy Spirit is true God equal (one) with the Father and the Son. This
statement came out of the Council and was quoted in the fourth book he wrote that was directed
against one named Anomius."
Bassellius the Great: Wrote to Macdonius before the convening of the Council saying: "beware,
do not separate the Holy Spirit from the Father and the Son, because this goes against all the
traditions of the Church. This is what Christ taught, and also what the Apostles taught, and what
the fathers of the church and the martyrs did believe." He also added that if you are not
convinced you can read the epistle against the heresy of Sabellius. So before you make any
statement go back to the holy books, the tradition, and the teachings of the Fathers of the
Church."
4.6
The Heresy of Macedonius
This was one of the important reasons for holding the Council of Constantinepole in 381 AD.
Macedonius was at the time the bishop of the capital where the meeting was held and his heresy
was concerning the Holy Spirit on which he taught that the Holy Spirit was not equal to the
Father and the Son in essence. And that the Holy Spirit was a created spirit and not eternal. The
Council removed Macedonius from his chair and added to the Nicean Creed of Faith, the
paragraph concerning the Holy Spirit:
We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord Giver of Life,
Who proceeds from the Father,
We worship and glorify Him, with the Father and the Son.
Who Speaks through the prophets.
And in one Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church.
We believe in the Resurrection of the dead, and the Life of the World to Come. Amen.
4.7
The Heresy of Appolinarius
He was a bishop, Appolinarius of Ladokia, the son of Appolinarius of Alexandria. He fought the
Arios heresy so hard that he himself started to fall in heresy. Because the followers of Arios
denied the divinity of the Lord, Appolinarius started to argue against them to the point that he
denied the existence of the human soul in Christ and to the point that he was saying that Christ
was fully divine and his divinity did take on the human functions including suffering and that the
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divine carried the pain of the crucifixion and death. He also added that the Son is greater than the
Holy Spirit, and the Father is greater than Son. So, the Council ex-communicated him and his
teachings.
4.8
The Heresy of Aphodius
Aphodius was from the region between the rivers (today's IRAQ) and he taught that God is a
spirit that has human features and human organs. He also added that the Holy Spirit was a virtue
or a necessary act from God. Many monks followed his teachings and it was refuted and stopped.
4.9
North African Dispute
In the city of Carthage ("Kartagna") an archdeacon, Cecellius, was ordained a bishop without
consulting the bishops of the neighboring regions, so the bishop of Nomedia call a local council
of 70 bishops in which they disapproved of the ordination and ex-communicated the bishop and
ordained one, Maghorinus in his place. This caused a rift in the regions and riots among the
common people ensued that caused many injuries and death. Also, some began to travel around
advising the people of the region to repeat sacraments because they were performed by what they
called ex-communicated bishop. The kings (rulers) of the region were tried of trying to reconcile
the two sides and were not able to until the Learned (Doctor of the Church) Augustine appeared
in the region as the bishop of Hippo. He was able to stop the side of Nomedia from steering
trouble in the region, and convinced the people of the region to regain their peace.
4.10 The Dispute Concerning the Writings of Origen
Origen was at one time the head of the School of Alexandria, but some of his writings were not
approved by the Church of Alexandria that made him flee to Palestine where he was ordained
priest by a bishop from the Church of Antioch. This made it difficult for him to be reconciled
with the mother Church. Some of the monks of the region of escete in Egypt declared Origen
heretic and requested a ban on all his writings calling it the source of all heresies. But another
group of monks from the region of "farma" sided with Origen and his teachings against the
monks of the escete. The group from escete gathered at the patriarchate and forced their
Patriarch Theophlus to ex-communicate Origen and all his followers, and he did. But the other
party supported by Descores the bishop of "Armopolis" went to the Patriarch and asked him in
an insulting language to remove the ex-communication decree, but he refused and when they
insisted, he had a military force remove them from their monasteries and they fled to Jerusalem
where they were accepted. They then went to Antioch where they were received by the bishop
John Chrysostom who supported them against their bishop. The Patriarch Throphlus sent a
complaint to the Empress Kadouksia who sided with him and ordered the exiles of John
Chrysostom.
4.11 The Dispute Concerning John Chrysostom
As we explained before he was exiled for interfering in the dispute between some Egyptian
monks and the Patriarch of Alexandria. So, he wrote to and got support from the Bishop of Rome
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who wrote to the Empress and the Royal family asking that the charges against Chrysostm be
dropped and requesting a universal council be held to investigate the charges against him adding
that he [Chrysostom] will apologize for interfering in Egypt's internal affairs, but the Empress
and the palace refused to accept the proposal and moved Chrysostom to anes exile farther away.
John Chrysostom died from exhaustion caused by the journey, and it became not necessary to
discuss the subject anymore. The Clergy of the capital however succeeded in moving his body to
the main cathedral in the capital where he was buried and his name was added to the registry of
Church saints.
4.12 The Heresy of Nestor: The Council of Ephesus, 431 AD
The Heresy of Nestor is as grave as the heresy of Arios if not more. Because when the heresy of
Arios took place the Church was one universal and apostolic Church. When Nestor came on the
scene the unity was eroding and the Churches of the West (Rome and its neighbors did not see
eye to eye with the Oriental Orthodox Churches. Especially that the bishop of Rome did not
attend the Council of Constantinepole, considered it a local council for the bishops of the East
and asked the bishops to come to Rome instead that was refused by the 150 that met in
Constantinepole for many reasons. The gravity of Nestor heresy also comes from the person of
Nestor who was a patriarch while Arios was only a priest.
With this introduction let us see who Nestor was and what he said? Nestor was the Patriarch of
Constantinepole and the son of wealthy parents who were able to put him in the same school
with the emperor himself when the emperor was a young prince. This friendship helped Nestor to
achieve the position he had as Bishop and then Patriarch without spending much time to be
trained in the lower levels of the hierarchy; i.e. Novus, monk, bishop, etc. The friendship with
the emperor helped him also to gain the support of the emperor at first, but the same had to order
Nestor exiled. Nestor exile was to a place in Egypt called Akhmeem where the population was
all Copts very strong in the orthodox faith. He died in Ahkmeem in southern Egypt and where he
was buried became a garbage dump that is referred to as the Hill Of Nestor ("tall Nastour") to
this day.
The heresy of Nestor started by statements he made in his preaching as Patriarch saying: 1) that
who that was born of the Virgin Mary is not God; 2) How can I worship the 3 months old child
that the Magis worshipped; 4) He removed from the Tres-agion the statements referring to the
Lord: his birth from the Virgin, His crucifixion, His death on the cross, and his resurrection and
ascension; etc. He also wrote new hymnals that in subtle way omitted or attacked the concepts
regarding Christ that he did not agree with?
The sayings of Nestor and his new hymnals offended not only the visitors of the capital, but also
many of his local parishioners who took to the streets of the city to protest his saying and his
teachings. His response was to treat the parishioners that opposed his teachings with contempt
and to make their church life difficult by opposing their requests for receiving church rites such
as communion, baptism, marriage etc..
The sad news of these statement and hymnals changes came to be known by people in the empire
who visited Constantinepole, and they spread it where they lived when they returned from their
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visits to the capital of the big empire. The words came to the attention of the Bishop of
Alexandria at that time, add to that letters he received from Coptic Church agents placed in the
capital, to handle the relation between the church and the Byzantine empire, who wrote to him
regularly. The Patriarch Cyril happened to be a great disciple of Athanassius and a theologian in
his own right. Although he was not contemporary of one of the great fathers of the Church, as we
stated before Athanassius was a prolific writer and his writings were in all the libraries in the
world including the library of Alexandria that was the largest in the world at that time and was
affiliated with the School of Alexandria that was operated under the leadership of the Patriarch
of Alexandria who in many cases was the chancellor of the school and protector of the library.
Cyril the Great of Alexandra was gifted in the knowledge of the faith, the Holy Books and the
History of the Church. He realized the gravity of the situation, but did not want to have a
confrontation with Nestor. He knew that the Nestorian sayings and beliefs were going to threaten
the Christian faith that he upheld and preached, that was called "the true orthodox faith". Also, it
was referred to as "the faith of Athanassius" because of the great effort of Athanassius to
establish the faith and write the "decree of orthodox faith" and the wars he fought with the
empire and other bishops to "keep the faith" clean and changed.
So, instead of open confrontation, he chose to speak privately to the Patriarch of
Constantinepole and he did. He sent two emissaries to Constantinepole with a private letter to
Nestor and they were instructed to stay for up to 2 months to bring back Nestor response. The
emissaries of the Pope of Alexandria did as they were instructed. They stayed in Constantinepole
for 2 months but with no acceptable result. Nestor refused to meet with them and when he took
the letter from Cyril at the end handed them a letter full of insults to Cyril and the Church of
Egypt, and in which Nestor defended his sayings as Orthodox teachings.
It is very interesting to learn some of the statements in the letter by Pope Cyril in which he
pleads with the Patriarch saying: "if you were a common man, no one would have cared what you
say or what you believe, but because of your position in the Church as the bishop of the great
city of Constantinepole, your saying become extremely important because they can lead many
people to follow beliefs that we don't see correct concerning the divinity of our Lord."
The combative response of the Patriarch of Constantinepole, made it necessary for the Pope of
Alexandria to write to other bishops and to the Emperor about the need to hold Universal
Council again. This time Ephesus was proposed as the location for the meeting, and the
invitations were reluctantly sent out by the emperor to all the Churches before the council was
convened. Pope Cyril wrote one more time to Nestor and got the same answer: Attacks on the
person of Pope Cyril, attacks on the Coptic Church, and self justification by Nestor claiming that
all his actions and sayings were proper.
After the second letter, the Pope of Alexandria held a local council of the bishops in his
episcopate and after showing them the communications with the Patriarch of Constantinepole,
they all agreed that the situation has to be elevated, so the Patriarch of Alexandria wrote the
Emperor, his wife, and his sister. He also wrote to many bishops from the Eastern Church as well
as to the Pope of Rome. The Pope of Rome received the message through an emissary who was
asked to observe the reaction of the Pope to the message from Cyril. The emissary to Pope
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Alexander reported that the reaction of the Pope of Rome gave the indication that the Pope had
received a message from Nestor in which he tried to convince the Pope that his writings and
sayings were according to the "true orthodox faith" and that he also sent a copy of the letter he
received from Cyril of Alexandria to the pope. Moreover, the Pope of Rome held a local council
in which all the letters and findings concerning Nestor were presented and the Church of Rome
through its local council found out that Nestor was a heretic and his teachings amounted to a
great heresy against the teachings of the universal church.
The following events showed that the reaction of the popes to this situation was very proper.
They both determined independently, each through his local council, that the writings and saying
of Nestor were improper and that the Church was in danger because of the Nestorian heresy.
Long time after the Nestorian upheaval, this proved to be true indeed. Not only did Nestor cause
a new heresy, but his refusal to recant caused Nestorian beliefs to propagate into many religions
and sects to this day.
It was obvious that this council will not have the same fate as the council of Constantinepole that
was considered by Rome as a local council of the Eastern Churches. The Emperor approved
holding a universal council, this time in the city of Ephesus.
The Council was convened in Ephesus following the feast of the descent of the holy spirit, also
referred to as Pentecost even then, in 431 AD and 200 bishops came to Ephesus to attend and
participate in this the third universal council according to the beliefs of the Coptic Orthodox
Church. This also was the last council in which agreement existed between the Oriental
Orthodox (Copts, Syrians, Armenians, Ethiopians, and the Church of India at the time), because
in 451 a council was held in Chalcedon that is referred to as the "Unfortunate" ("Mashaoom").
First arrival was Pope Cyril of Alexandria accompanied by 50 bishops from the church of Egypt.
Then Patriarch Nestor accompanied by 40 bishops that were under his command as patriarch.
Also was in attendance Ubenalius the bishop of Jerusalem. Some bishops were late in arriving,
so they had to wait for 6 days for the late ones to show up [The modern reader should realize that
this was in 431 AD when means of transportation were limited to walking, riding, sail ships, and
animal drawn carts]. The emperor did not want to interfere in the matter to be settled by bishops,
at least that was the reason given for sending a former governor of the emperor’s household
named Kandianus who ended up siding with Nestor in shielding him from a face to face
confrontation with the 200 convened bishops at Ephesus. This was one council in which the
accused refused to appear in front of the accusing council and all the proceedings took place and
the judgment was pronounced in the absence of the accused, Nestor. The Judgment was to
remove Nestor, Patriarch of Constantinepole from all clergycal ranks.
The council waited for 6 days, but during that time many bishops went in groups to see Nestor
where he was staying and they all failed in convincing him to recant and also failed in
convincing him to attend the meetings of the council. After waiting for the late bishops for six
days letters came from some of the late bishops and one particular John Chrysostom the bishop
of Antioch and other communications indicating that there was no objection for the council to
start before their arrival.
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The council of Ephesus did actually start before everyone was present, but according to the count
kept there was 200 bishops in attendance when the council was fully convened. They started by
sending four bishops to Nestor asking him and his bishops to appear in front of the council.
Nestor verbally replied that it was not necessary for him to appear in front of a church council,
and so was the response of the 40 bishops with him. The council sent a second time for Nestor to
appear, but this time his reply was that he will not appear in front of the council until after the
arrival of John the bishop of Antioch. The council at this point determined to proceed with or
without Nestor presence. They started by reading a letter from Cyril Pope of Alexandria to
Nestor that had 12 chapters and a letter from the Pope of Rome also to Nestor both asking him
basically to recant. There was also statements by the local council in Rome and the local council
in Alexandria concerning Nestor. Also, to remind the convened bishops of the true orthodox faith
they did read epistles from the departed Athanassius, bishop of Alexandria some directed to the
faithful and others directed to individual clergy some were dead and others were still alive, even
present at Ephesus. They also did read decisions taken by the bishops that needed to be published
including excommunications for one called Bellagius and another called Kastinus and the
council moved to refuse the introduction of a "new creed of faith" and to continue to honor the
creed written in Nicea in 325 AD by the fathers of the Church who were convened at the time
and place. They also added that anyone who wants to add to or decrease from the Nicean Creed
shall be removed (cut-off) from the one holy catholic and apostolic church.
4.12.1.
The Council at Ephesus in 431 AD also introduced 8 cannons; the
th
8 was worded as follows:
"No bishop shall take over an episcopate or region that is not his, and was not part of his reign or
his predecessors reign. If one already have done so, he should return what it took back to be in
compliance of the rule of the universal church. It is also recommended not to bring "the smoke"
of civil authority into the clergycal matters, otherwise we will lose the clergycal authority little
by little without realizing what we are doing [to our own authority]. Concerning the freedom the
Lord Jesus Christ granted us with his precious blood that was poured for the whole human race,
we should protect it by giving every metropolitan his rights that were taken away from him and
observe complete equality among all [bishops] in giving everyone his rights fully. if anyone
comes up or shows canons other than what was decreed [by the councils of the church] such will
be null and void.
There was a lot of haggling with Nestor before and after the full convention was assembled.
When the 200 of Ephesus were assembled they decreed the following concerning Nestor:
From the holy council convened in the metropolitan region of Ephesus, from this great region
through the mercy of God, and according to the imperial decree from our king who follows and
is in good standing concerning our faith, we write to Nestor, the second Judas: "learn that
because of your hypocritical teachings and your disobedience to the canons, you have been
removed by this holy council and according to the canons of the church and was judged to be
cast away from all ranks and denied any job and estranged from all church service."
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4.12.2.
An Infamous Controversy between the Church of Alexandria and the
Church of Antioch Follows:
This is an important historic incident that was never explained in books on the history of the
Churches. We bring it up because we would like the reader of this writing to know that it truly
happened, but it was cleared out shortly thereafter. The reason behind it could be explained as
the desire of John [Chrysostom] to give Nestor yet another chance to recant. Unfortunately,
Nestor was not going to recant no matter what anyone says or do.
When the saint John Chrysostom arrived accompanied by 32 bishops, 5 days after the council of
Ephesus issued its decree concerning Nestor heresy, he [John] accused the bishops convened of
haste in taking an important decision. In particular, he blamed Cyril of Alexandria and Memnin
the Metropolitan of Ephesus who were the leaders of the convention for the haste. Moreover, he
[John] convened a council of 40 bishops in Ephesus in which he asked the universal council to
retract all the proceedings that took place to this point and he also excommunicated the Pope of
Alexandria (Cyril of Alexandria) and Memnin the Metropolitan of Ephesus. These decision were
reported to the Emperor and to the people of the city and it seemed to be motivated by a desire to
support a person from his own nationality, both from Asia Minor, rather than to act with fairness
towards the most difficult issue facing the universal church to that time.
The next day, the representatives of the Pope of Rome arrived: Arkadius and Brouiaktos the
bishops, and Philip, a priest. So the Council held a second meeting then a third one. They asked
John [bishop of Antioch] to come to the meetings but he refused saying that he cannot sit in the
same meeting with two ex-communicated bishops, meaning Cyril of Alexandria and Memnin of
Ephesus. The Council found no choice but to ex-communicate John Chrysostom and 33 bishops
from his followers, and they had to declare the innocence of Cyril and Memnin so that they can
proceed with their meetings. They also re-affirmed the decisions taken earlier (First day)
concerning Nestor, the now ex-communicated patriarch.
When the emperor received the letters from John the bishop of Antioch, he wrote back to Cyril
of Alexandria criticizing him for the hastily actions he took and asked that the council continue
its works and to try to reconcile with all. But the letters that the Council wrote and letters from
Cyril to the Emperor were obstructed by his representative who claimed to send the letters to the
Emperor but in reality he was holding them back because he was sympathetic to Nestor, the
Patriarch of his hometown.
It became evident to Cyril and others that their letters were not reaching the Emperor and that
they were criticized but their defense was not being heard, so they decided to use other means to
get the final proceedings and decisions to the Emperor without intervention from his local
representative.
4.12.3
Emperor:
Sending the Final Proceeding of the Council of Ephesus to the
When the fathers in Ephesus realized that representative of the Emperor was holding back all
their communications to the Emperor, they decided to use a new tactic to get their message to the
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Emperor. They found a poor old man who agreed to execute a clever plan. The old man took all
the reports and stuffed them in a hollow walking Cain and to pretend that he was beggar going
around on land and by sea begging away [there must have been many spies in the city during this
most important historic meeting]. So the old man did as was agreed until he reached the capital.
When he arrived at Constantinepole from Ephesus, he met an Archimandrite (high monastic
rank) named Delmatius. Delmatius lived in a cloister ('Quallaiah") for 38 years at one time. He
was respected by the Emperor, who visited him in his place of solitude many times. He handed
the papers to Delmatius who was well known to the palace. Delmatius gathered a group of
monks and read to them the reports from the Council of Ephesus. When they heard the decisions
of the Council concerning Nestor, they were exceedingly pleased with the outcome of the
meeting that was hard to get off the ground and had many obstructions before it was finally
complete. Delmatius being assured by the Monks that it was the right thing to do took the reports
to the palace and handed them directly to the Emperor and he [Delmatius] explained to Cesar
what it all meant [the need to remove Nestor] and asked the Emperor to receive ambassadors
[representatives] from both sides that are convened at Ephesus to explain to the Emperor their
reasons for what they did or did not do. The Emperor accepted the advice, and Immediately
Delmatius went to the Great Cathedral in Constantinepole and addressed the faithful reporting to
them that Nestor will be removed. The news was received with joy and shouts, down with heretic
Nestor.
But the Emperor still had second thoughts about his friend Nestor, so he consulted a Count in his
staff who recommended consulting with Akakius the Bishop of Halap {Allepo, Syria}. Bishop
Akakius suggested that the Emperor should exile Nestor, Cyril, and Memnin. So, the Emperor
sent order through Count John the treasures of the Empire to Count Jacob in Ephesus to Arrest
Nestor, Cyril, and Memnin. Jacob executed the order of the Emperor and when it became known
that the arrest order included Cyril of Alexandria and Memnin of Ephesus the people of the
capital were angered and riots started in the city that caused the Emperor to reverse his decree
and ordered the release of Cyril and Memnin. During all this Nestor was free under the
protection of the Emperor's representative.
One would think that the dispute ended after the riots, but in reality the Emperor requested that
the two camps [The council headed by Cyril, and the local council headed by John Chrysosotm]
send representatives to meet with him in the Imperial palace. 8 representatives were sent by each
camp to meet with the emperor. From John Chrysosotm camp the following were very
prominent: Theodoritus the bishop of Korsh and Pavlos the bishop of Hemmes. The Emperor
met them in Chalcedon [the vacation place across the waterway from the Capital] and listened to
what they both had to say and when he could not make the two sides agree on a decision, he
ordered that Nestor can go anywhere in the Empire except the capital city where he was patriarch
and went instead to the monastery in the suburbs of Antioch where he grew; and he [the
Emperor] gave permission to Cyril of Alexandria and Memnin of Ephesus to return each to his
seat of the episcopate. He also asked the bishops to elevate Maximianus, one of Nestor followers
a patriarch on Constantinepole.
You would think that all the haggling produced a more reasonable outcome, but it did not
because the Camp of John Chrysosotm continued to accuse the other camp of being thieves and
Cyril in particular was called a snatching wolf. The situation continued to simmer after everyone
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was back in his home episcopate. Consequently, Rapaula the bishop of Raha who was in the
Chrysostom camp switched sides and became outspoken in favor of Cyril of Alexandria, and
against John of Antioch. This rambling reached the palace and caused the emperor to ask the two
leaders to be reconciled based on advice given to the palace from the new patriarch of the capital.
Cyril of Alexandria declared that he is willing to reconcile with Antioch and remove all
anathemas if the bishop of Antioch signs on the declaration of Ephesus calling for the removal of
Nestor from all ranks of the priesthood. This message was transmitted to John by two deacons
from the Church of Alexandria. After some massaging of the words in the letters exchanged, for
the sake of peace between the churches, both sides agreed to be reconciled on the conditions
stated regarding the excommunicated Nestor. John Chrysostom sent his reconciliation message
with Paul the bishop of Hemmes [in Syria] and when he arrived to Alexandria, Pope Cyril gave
him permission to stand at the podium of the great Cathedral and speak to the faithful. The
speech was well received and the churches were reconciled that very day. This completes the
telling of the incident between Cyril of Alexandria and John Chrysostom the bishop of Antioch
and it shows that there were Anathemas between the two bishops, but were removed shortly
thereafter, as compared to Anathemas between the Eastern Orthodox and Catholic Church. And
between the Oriental Orthodox and both the Eastern Orthodox and the Roman Catholic
Churches. Some go back to 451 AD (the unfortunate council at Chalcedon) and later on in 1054
AD when disagreements between the Eastern Orthodox and the Roman Catholic Church began
to appear.
The letter of reconciliation from John Chrysostom however contained theological statements that
the Church of Alexandria did not approve, but had to ignore to reach the goal of reconciliation.
Here is the English translation of these statements that were originally written in the Greek
language: "We accept that there was union between two nature, so we confess one Christ, One
Son, One Lord. And according to this union, the virgin St. Mary is the mother of God. Secondly,
the biblical and apostolic statements concerning the Lord, we know that the theologians make
some of it general as if it belongs to one essence ("aqnuum wahid") and they explain other as if
they were for two natures and they ascribe the ones that attibute to the divine to the divinity of
Christ and those that are lesser to His humanity). [This here was the beginning of the rift that
led to the Council of Chalcedon in 451 AD. Presented here, but with unpleasant outcome in 451
AD. Also, the reader should be advised that the Eastern Orthodox sided with the Roman
Catholics in 451 against the Oriental Orthodox Churches. This rift continued until 1992 when a
council of both families was held in Geneva, Switzerland in which the two sides agreed to be
reconciled using yet new wording of the theological wording of the Nature of Christ, also
referred to as Christology!].
When Nestor settled down in his old monastery, he started again to organize for spreading his
teachings from his exile in Antioch, his hometown. This was not acceptable to the Emperor who
had enough, of his old childhood friend, Nestor. The Emperor ordered Nestor exile place to be
changed to strong Orthodox town in southern Egypt, namely Akhmeem. This was as far as he
could be sent away from the Capital and all of Asia Minor. Unfortunately, the teachings of
Nestor were spread far and beyond. Nestor died and was buried in Akhmeem, in southern Egypt.
Sadly, his teachings continued to spread far beyond Asia Minor and far beyond his wildest
dreams when he opposed 200 bishops in Ephesus representing the world Christianity of 431 AD
when the official religion of the Roman Empire, the greatest power on earth at the time, was the
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one Christian faith espoused by what was then called: the true Catholic and Apostolic Orthodox
Church.
4.12.4.
Nestor on the Way to Exile
When it was final that Nestor was to live in Exile in Egypt, the most hostile nation towards him,
he was handed to a Centurion to take him to his place of exile, Akhmeem in southern Egypt.
They took the land route from Constantine pole to Egypt. Nestor got tired and started to
complain. The Centurion who was Christian tried to comfort him by saying: “Christ our Lord
suffered and he did not complain!” to this statement Nestor gave a sharp reply: “I refused to
agree with 200 bishops about this designation, and I am not ready to hear this statement again.”
This was the end of the small talk and they continued on the way to exile in Akhmeem, where
Nestor spent the rest of his life on earth.
4.13 The Heresy of Eutycha (Monophycism)
This heresy appeared after the Council of Ephesus. An Archimandrite (Head of Monks) called
Eutycha lived in one of the suburbs of Constantinepole with a group of monks. Eutycha was very
much against the Nestorian Heresy that he started to teach against the Nestorians and in his zeal
he ended up denying the humanity of Christ, by saying that the humanity was like a drop of
water in the ocean of divinity and it was dissolved and he was all divine (monophycism). A local
council of 30 bishops, most of them Nestorians did convene and ordered Eutycha removed from
his position and prevented him from teaching or speaking publicly.
We have to add a note here because the teachings of Eutycha (monophycism) was a reaction to
Nestorian teachings that is the other extreme. While Nestorians denied the divinity of the Lord,
the Eutycha camp made him all divine by teaching that the humanity dissolved in the divinity
like a drop of water in an Ocean. It is stated once and over again that the Church of Egypt was
against both teachings, but unfortunately in the Council that followed Ephesus, Namely
Chalcedon, the Western Church accused the Egyptian Church to be a follower of the teachings of
Eutycha. This accusation continues to this day in some Church circles, and it seams that some
accusations do not go away no matter what you say or do!
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4.14 Catholic Heresies Committed after 451 AD:
4.14.1
The Two Natures, Two Wills Heresy
In over 100 years and exactly between 325 AD and 451 AD the Church was very active
in defining the Christian Faith (The Theology of the Christian Faith). It was no longer
accepted to receive the simple faith in Christ as the Redeemer. The church hierarchy all
over the Roman Empire was steadily growing as the number of believers increased by
leaps and bounds. The hierarchy defined the faith through the Creed of Faith, Epistles
from the bishops to each other and to the congregations. Alexandria was in the forefront
of defining the Christians theology and in the council of Nicea was given the
responsibility to announce the date of Easter since it came according to lunar (based on
the phases of the moon) cycle when all the official date of the empire were determined
based on a Celestial Calendar (The Julian Calendar based on the seasons that are
determined by the motion of the sun). Alexandrian bishops also sent epistles to their
brothers the bishops of the empire although Alexandria was not the seat of government.
There was a grave jealousy caused by the elevated position of the Church of Egypt.
When the bishops were not on the best terms, the emperor Marcian called a Church
council this time in Chalcedon, the vacation place of the emperors since Constantine.
This was argued to have the council away from the noise of the growing capital and to
permit the emperor and empress to attend.
Before the council was started, the Pope of Rome Leo issued a decree that is referred
to as the decree of Leo ('tome of Leo'). In this decree, he accused the Coptic Church
and its Patriarch, Descores of being "monophycites" and followers of the teachings of
Eutycha, and he excommunicated the Coptic Church and its hierarchy represented in
the Patriarch Descores before the council even started. As was the case in three
universal councils, the Pope of Rome did not attend, but through his representative he
asked that the "heretic" Descores be not allowed to attend?
The moderators of the council (also called judges) of 330 bishops argued that it is not
accepted to throw one out before the meeting even started, and it’s the wiser to allow
the meeting to proceed and to bring the accused to defend himself. This to this day is a
problem with eccelesiastic magnitude, because to this day the Roman Catholic
Hierarchy and the Coptic Orthodox Hierarchy are separated by the anathemas of 451
AD. The Pope of Rome, John Paul II and the Pope of Alexandria, Shenouda III met in
Cairo for a celebration of the Millennium in 2000 AD. It was very cordial but did not
produce a plan for reconciliation between the two churches. Both spoke highly of each
other but that was it. A dialogue between the Churches continued from ~1975 to 1995
but it was halted because the Copts accused the Roman Catholics of unfair
proselytizing practices. This accusation is not the first since other orthodox churches
make the same claim all the time to this day, especially about Catholic expansion in
Eastern Europe, the Ukraine, and all of Russia..
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To be fully truthful, the writer would like to describe our departed Pope Descores, the
Champion of the Orthodox faith as he is called in the Oriental Orthodox Churches, as a
very sincere servant who lacked tact that was needed to win the battle. Saint Descores
went into the meeting and made the following inquiry: "If this meeting is called by the
Emperor, let the emperor take care of his affairs; but if it is called by the Lord Jesus
Christ, then let us call all the bishops.” This was not received very well, and added to
widening the wedge that was planted by the Western Church. Adding to that the
animosity towards the Church of Egypt that was led by the Roman Church and included
the Church of Constantinepole that never forgave the Church of Alexandria for removing
Nestor 70 years earlier, and the Church of Antioch as we explained earlier.
Also, a belief was brewing that was trying to distinguish between situations in the life of
Christ where humanity was manifest (son of man) more than divinity (son of God). This
teaching came to be known as the Two Wills and Two Natures of Christ. The Oriental
Churches insisted that Christ has one will and one Nature, that of the Incarnate God
(God who appeared in the flesh). The Orientals also insist that the two wills and two
natures united without mingling, without changing, and without confusion.
On the First day of the council the Roman Church called for the ex-communication of
the Egyptian Church and to evection the Egyptian Patriarch and his delegation. The
Judges asked for a dialogue and a trial of the Copts. They gave both sides 5 days to
prepare for a debate. The Pope of Alexandria and its delegation was prevented from
leaving the place they were staying in Chalcedon. But on the third day (not the fifth) the
council met again, in the absence of the Egyptian delegation, and condemned the
Coptic Church of the heresy of Eutycha. On the fifth day when the Egyptian delegation
tried to attend the Council that already was in progress they were prevented. Pope
Descores pretended that he accepted the decree of the council and asked to be handed
the decree to sign it. When they handed him the decree, he wrote and signed
"Anathema" against all who signed this heretic decree. The Patriarch was beaten by the
soldiers of the emperor, hair from his beard was plucked and some teeth were broken
when he was punched in the face. He took the hair of his beard and the teeth that fell
and sent them to Alexandria with a message: "these are the fruits of standing fast in the
Orthodox faith."
The emperor ordered Saint Descores and two of his bishops arrested and exiled to the
Island of Ghangra. Pope Descores advised one of the two to return back to Alexandria
because a crown of martyrdom was prepared for him. When the bishop arrived in
Alexandria he was martyred by the soldiers of the empire. Also, from that time on, the
Empire appointed a Byzantine patriarch for Alexandria, a foreigner that never gained
acceptance by the Copts. Because the Coptic Church considered Pope Descores the
only Pope they can have. And when he departed in exile, the succession continued
unbroken to this day.
When the Chalcedon decree against the Coptic Church took place, 4 other Churches
joined the Coptic Church in refusing the decree. Those are the Churches of Antioch
(Syria), Armenia, Ethiopia (The daughter Church of the Coptic Church) and the Church
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of India. These 5 were isolated from the Eastern Orthodox and the Roman Church until
1992 when an agreement between all Orthodox Churches made it possible for the
Orthodox Churches to remove the Anathemas and be able to have communion after
1600 years. The Roman Church did not join this agreement, but continues to have
discussion about unity with the Orthodox Churches represented by the Ecumenical
Patriarch of the Eastern Orthodox who resides in Istanbul and is considered by all the
Eastern Orthodox as their leader (First among equals). They also have a dialogue with
the Coptic Orthodox Church that might resume again.
In the late 1700's the Catholic Church responding to some un-satisfaction from some
Egyptian Christians appointed a Catholic Coptic Patriarch (Meaning that he is a
patriarch on the Egyptian Christians who are followers of Rome). This position is filled
by Rome whenever the seat is vacant from among the Egyptian Coptic Catholic
Bishops, and the holder of the position is usually given the rank of Cardinal since this
position is in a way in direct competition with the Coptic Orthodox Pope of Alexandria.
The Schism of 451 AD hurt the Church and was the beginning of sorrow for all
Christians. The Copts and their sister Churches did not attend any of the councils
following Chalcedon and the traditions of the Oriental Orthodox were saved from liberal
changes that took place in Rome and all the other Orthodox Churches at that time.
The Two Wills and Two Natures used to be the most sticking subject, until most
recently. The unfortunate ("Mashoom") Council of Chalcedon, caused the first major
rift in the One Catholic (Universal), Apostolic Church. After Chalcedon we anathemised
each other. But, because all the Orthodox Churches reached agreement in 1992
concerning the Nature of Christ, which is now referred to as "The Nature of Christ." This
is no longer an issue. It took 1500 years, but Praise the Lord it is almost done.
4.14.2
The Procession of the Holy Spirit (The Felocia Issue):
The Catholic Church uses "proceeds from the Father and the Son" in their Creed which
was a change added during the rule of Charlemagne (Holy Roman Emperor 800-814
AD). This can be resolved by returning back to the Apostles Creed or the Nicene Creed
and the faith of St. Athanassious the Apostolic (the Creed of 325 AD) .
4.14.3
The Nature of the Birth of the Holy Virgin Mary:
This was a subject of debate during the Reign Pope Sixtus IV, a Franciscan, who
defended the veneration of the Virgin Mother of God. establishing in 1477 the concept
of the Immaculate Conception (Birth) of Mary; i.e. claiming that she was born without
Adam's sin!. Going back to the early Fathers, there is no such thing.
4.14.4
Indulgences and Writs of Forgiveness:
This is again a middle ages concept not known before. However, it can be worded
within the framework of intercessions of the saints rather than the use of their excess
goodness which sounds like trade and bartering. We and our Catholic brothers believe
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in the Intercessions of the Saints and use it as a source of help in our everyday life
struggles.
4.14.5
The Use of Engraved Images for Church Decoration:
The use of statues and engraved images is against the commandments starting with the
Ten Commandments. When the Pope of Rome was in St. Louis, there was two protests
against him: One from a group of women activists concerning a demand for ordination
of women as priests, the other was led by a group of Christians from India protesting the
use of engraved images in Catholic Churches. The people from India are so incensed
because the majority of their native people are Hindus who worship idols. Idols are
represented by statues and engraved images. . We need to say no more. We can also
look the other way!
4.14.6
Baptism by Sprinkling of Water:
For a very strict Orthodox, it is very objectionable. But, if you go to the teachings of the
Apostles ('Descolia'), it was permitted to sprinkle water if water was not available in
abundance; e.g. living in a desert in which case two spoons of water is required three
times. Here, the Orthodox side can recommend going back to the practice started by St.
John the Baptist when he baptized the Lord Jesus.
Christ in the Jordan River, fully immersing Him.
4.14.7
The Use of unleavened Bread for the Bread of the Service:
In Egypt they say: "they use bascoot" Also, when we talk about this the bread they use
can be in storage for months, and the same priest can serve communion on the same
altar all day long! We can also look the other way. I also discovered in dealing with nonEgyptian Orthodox Churches that our Armenian brothers use "bascoot" also. Our
reason for leavened bread is that the yeast symbolizes our sins: "He took what is ours
(sin) and gave us what is His (purity)" (Saturday Tasbeha). According to Archimendrite
Casperian of the Armenian Church, unleavened bread symbolizes the "purity" of Jesus,
He is without sin. Both symbols can be acceptable.
4.14.8
Purgatory ("Mathaar")
Purgatory: to purge. This is the most difficult issue so far. The Catholic Church teaches
that there is a situation, halfway between heaven and hell. They call it purgatory.
Purgatory in this teaching is a place where Christians who are not completely worthy of
heaven go to be cleansed through punishment (not eternal). When the punishment is
complete, they then move on to heaven. The Protestant brothers are more offended by
this teaching than we can ever be. With this also comes "limboo" and according to their
teaching, limboo is a place for those who do not deserve to be in heaven and their
situation is because of no fault of their own, like the mentally retarded and those who do
not poses the capacity to accept salvation, children who die before they are baptized ..
etc. That is also where the commonly used word "in limboo" comes from. This we can
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not accept, but it can be discussed by theologians and may be explained better or
dropped.
4.14.9.
The Supremacy of Peter:
When we were at the Cathedral of St. Louis, and right after the Pope of Rome entered,
it was announced by a chanter (deacon) "hear ye hear ye, now entered the successor of
Peter, Christ's representative on earth.; listen to him... etc." I am not going to dwell on
this subject, but I would like to simply say two things: A) Peter did not preach in Rome at
all. St. Paul the Apostle of the Gentiles (non Jewish Nations) is the one responsible for
the conversion of the Romans to Christianity. He wrote the Epistle to the Romans (listed
as the first Epistle of Paul) and was jailed and martyred in Rome. He also was a Roman
citizen, more suitable to preach to his own nation. Peter was the apostle of the Jews,
just a guest in Rome when he was captured and martyred; B) The words of the Lord
Jesus Christ in the Book of John (John 21:15 ) are words of rebuke and not words of
praise. Jesus was rebuking him for denying his master three times in front of a maid.
The advice to tend the flock (sheep) is directed to every servant from the youngest
Sunday School servant to the oldest and wisest clergy to attend to the flock caring for
them day and night. About the rock, it means that the rock of faith is what the Churches
are to be built on. But concerning the keys of the kingdom of God, these were given to
the Disciples and Apostles and those who follow them through faith (belief), confessing
Christ as Lord and Savior, and the laying of the hands of those in authority, i.e. our
fathers the bishops because "as it was, so will it be from generation to generation, and
forever. Amen." (The Coptic Liturgy)
4.15 The Schism of 1054 AD (The Great Schism)
This is also referred to as the Great Schism, because all the Eastern Orthodox Churches were
united in breaking with Rome. Also, the famous saying: "East is East and West is West" was
pronounced by the Patriarch Michael of Constantinepole in describing the difficult and failed
negotiation between Rome and Constantinepole on theological, historical, and political grounds.
The events that led to the Great Schism was the threat of Invasion of the Byzantine Empire by
the Ottoman tribes, later became the Ottoman Empire. The Patriarch of Constantinepole was
asked to request help from the west to prevent the invasion by the Ottomans, but Rome failed to
gain the needed support. Also on theological grounds many theological difference developed
between the East and the West in the period between 451 AD and 1054 AD, a span of 500 years
of separate theologies. The Eastern Orthodox group was unhappy with Rome because of the
many doctrinal changes that took place in the Roman Church without consultation and also were
not in agreement with the faith of the Orthodox group:
1. Filloquia: A Roman Changes to the Creed of Faith that is not acceptable to the Orthodox.
The Roman Church added concerning the Holy Spirit, the words: "and the Son" to the
phrase: "who proceeds from the Father." It is claimed that the addition of this phrase was
made by Charlemagne, the Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire in 850 AD.
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2. The use of unleavened bread in communion. The Orthodox use leavened bread (Bread
that has yeast). The symbolic meaning of yeast is sin. Christ bore our sins. The bread for
Communion has yeast symbolic of sin.
3. The Supremacy of Peter Belief: The Orthodox Churches believe that from the beginning
their were five Patriarchs equal in rank representing five Churches equal in astute:
Jerusalem, Antioch, Constantinepole, Rome, and Alexandria. The title Pope was used in
Rome and also in Alexandria. But it did not mean a higher status than the other
Patriarchs.
4. The Concept of Caesaropopism: That is tying together political and spiritual authority
that did take place in Europe during the Holy Roman Empire and beyond when the Pope
was considered of higher political authority than the Emperor, King, or any other Rulers
or Land Lord.
5. Even then in 1054 AD, the Orthodox Churches claimed that Rome was extending its
authority beyond the Western Empire and into the region of the Balkans that was part of
the Eastern (Byzantine) Empire.
Later on some of the Eastern Orthodox Churches had divided and out of the division came
the Eastern Rite of the Catholic Church. These are Catholic in belief that used to be
Orthodox, but joined with Rome (accepted to be under the Pope) although their practices are
according to the Orthodox traditions. Examples are The Greek Catholics, the Byzantine
Catholics, The Maronites in Lebanon, and the Coptic Catholics in Egypt.
If this is not complex enough wait until 1517 when Martin Luther came along and published
his 95 theses in which he wrote 95 criticisms of the Roman Church. He was
excommunicated, and he started his own brand of Christianity that was referred to as the
Protestantism, came out of a protest.
4.16 The Protestant Movement is Considered Heresy
The Christian revolution brought by Martin Luther who was a seminarian and who had a sister
who was a nun. Both breaking their vows of celibacy is considered by some a heresy. By others a
reformation. In 1517 AD a seminarian named Martin Luther posted a note on the door of a
Church in Gottenberg, Germany stating 95 violations of the Bible by the Roman Church. This
was an extremely courageous act since most people in the West feared the clergy to this point.
The reformation was on the mind of Luther for a long time but what triggered the 95 theses
action was the selling of indulgences by a Dominican Priest named Johan Tetzel, commissioned
by the Archbishop of Mainz and the pope. The purpose of the fund raising campaign was to
finance the building of St. Peter's Basilica in Rome. Fredrick the Wise the prince of that region
has banned the sales of such thing, but the parishioners bought them any way. When they came
to confession, they presented the indulgences claiming that they no longer needed to repent,
because the documents forgave them all their sins.
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Martin Luther went on to become the leader of the reformation, he himself experienced division
in his movement. Two disciples of Luther broke off with him in his life and formed their own
Churches: John Calvin and …
The Catholic Church itself went through a long over drawn process to reform itself that could
have started on that day in 1517 or 100 years later, but the real reform was not to come until the
20th century when world communications caused a tremendous change in the way people
communicate. Through Radio and TV one person could talk to a whole nation at once. In 1962, a
major conference was held by instructions from Pope John 23 the most famous Roman Pope
because of his piety and love towards all, in Vatican which was called Vatican I. In this
conference the Catholic Church admitted many of its mistakes in dealing with its members and
in dealing with other Churches and promised change that will be noticed by people inside and
outside the Church. Vatican I was stopped due to the death of the Pope. But as soon as the
successor Paul VI was elected, he ordered the continuation of the works of Vatican I that
resumed on 1963. .
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5.
Modern Heresies and Cults
A student of history and religion should pay attention to new heresies and their impact on
contemporary lives. Jehovah witness is a good example when a person tries to find literal
interpretations of events, and when it is not realized they continue to give it life through
extending date lines for events or maintaining a belief in what was not true. Cults are even more
dangerous than heresies because they target small groups of people and giving them an artificial
existence that is not a real reflection of life and through isolation, cults make followers to
commit abnormal acts of lying, stealing, inflicting harm, and even the ultimate sacrifice of one’s
own life. This unfortunately was the case with the followers of Jim Jones and David Koresh.
They all died together a horrible death.
5.1
Jehovah Witness
The Jehovah's Witnesses was begun by Charles Taze Russell in 1872. He was born on
February 16, 1852, the son of Joseph L. and Anna Eliza Russell. He had great difficulty
in dealing with the doctrine of eternal hell fire and in his studies came to deny not only
eternal punishment, but also the Trinity, and the deity of Christ and the Holy Spirit.
When Russell was 18, he organized a Bible class in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. In 1879
he sought to popularize his aberrant ideas on doctrine. He co-published The Herald of
the Morning magazine with its founder, N. H. Barbour and by 1884 Russell controlled
the publication and renamed it The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah's Kingdom, and
founded Zion's Watch Tower Tract Society (now known as the Watch Tower Bible and
Tract Society). The first edition of The Watchtower magazine was only 6,000 copies
each month. Today the Witnesses' publishing complex in Brooklyn, New York, churns
out 100,000 books and 800,000 copies of its two magazines--daily!
Russell claimed that the Bible could be only understood according to his
interpretations. A dangerous arrangement since he controlled what was written in the
Watchtower magazine. This kind of assertion is typical among leaders of cult religions.
After the death of Russell on Oct. 31, 1916, a Missouri lawyer named Joseph
Franklin Rutherford took over the presidency of the Watch Tower Society which was
known then as the Dawn Bible Students Association. In 1931 he changed the name of
the organization to "The Jehovah's Witnesses."
After Rutherford's death, Nathan Knorr took over. After Knorr, Frederick William
Franz became president.
Today the Society is led by Mr. Henschel. The group has over 4 million members
world wide. The Watchtower Society statistics indicate that 740 house calls are required
to recruit each of the nearly 200,000 new members who join every year.
The Jehovah's Witnesses have several ‘book studies' each week. The members are
not required to attend, but there is a level of expectation that gently urges converts to
participate. It is during these ‘book studies' that the Jehovah's Witness is constantly
exposed to counter Christian teachings. The average Jehovah's Witness, with his
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constant Watchtower indoctrination, could easily pummel the average Christian when it
comes to defending his beliefs.
The Jehovah's Witnesses vehemently portray the doctrine of the Trinity as pagan in
origin and that Christendom, as a whole, has bought the lie of the devil. Along with
denying the Trinity is an equally strong denial of the deity of Christ, the deity of the Holy
Spirit, the belief in hell, and eternal conscious punishment in hell.
An absolutely critical date for the Jehovah's Witnesses is 1914 AD. It is the date when,
according to the Jehovah's Witnesses, the time of the Gentiles ended (Watchtower,
5/1/93, page 11) and "Jesus-the heavenly warrior Michael-became King of God's
heavenly Kingdom," (Watchtower 11/1/93, page 23). To arrive at this date, the
Witnesses take the account in Daniel 4 and apply a 360 day year for each of the seven
"times" for a total of 2520 years. They add this date to 607 B.C., their date for the fall of
Jerusalem under Nebuchadnezzar, and arrive at 1914 A.D., the date when Jesus
supposedly returned invisibly in the heavens (The Truth Shall Make You Free, p. 300),
the "appointed time of the nations" ended (The Time is at Hand, page 79), and the
beginning of the end of the world commenced (Watchtower 11/15/50, page 438).
On that date, the Jehovah witnesses congregated in the place they called the Watch
Tower in New York. The date came and nothing happened. They were led to believe
that the event will happen on another date and another, etc. Now we have a magazine
called the Watch Tower, and a whole Church that sprung out of that prophesied, never
realized event.
The leader formed his own theology that is in disagreement with most Christian
Churches and developed a unique, their own, method of proselytizing. They by the way
consider all the other religions and denominations to be wrong, that is why they
:Jehovah Witness: have to bring everyone to their correct faith. According to official web
site of the Jehovah Witness, here are definitive statements concerning their belief. It
obviously shows the disagreement with Christianity in denying the existence of a trinity:
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit: Moreover, they consider Christianity to be a pagan religion
and their methods of proselytizing denies what their message is, and only after a person
becomes a member that he is educated in denouncing his old beliefs!
Belief in Deity
There is one God Almighty--a Spirit Being with a body but not a human body. There is one God and no
Trinity.
Incarnations
Christ is Lord and Savior, but not God (Jehovah) incarnate, not a God-man but inferior to God, not
part of a Godhead. He was a created spirit being, God's only begotten son, sent to Earth as a perfect
human. His sacrifice became the "ransom" price to redeem mankind from sin and death. God created
all in heaven and on Earth through Christ, the "master worker," God's servant. After Christ's
resurrection by God, he was "exalted" to a level higher than angel.
Origin of Universe and Life
God created the heavens and earth in six days, but each "day" is equal to thousands of years. God
created and controls all processes and events.
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After Death
No soul remains after death. Soon, Jesus Christ will return to resurrect the dead, restoring soul and
body. Those judged righteous will be given everlasting life on a paradise earth. Those judged
unrighteous will not be tormented, but will die and cease to exist.
Why Evil?
The original sin caused humans to inherit death and sin. Satan and his demons pervade the earth as
spirits tempting all to sin, which God allows as a test of faith in Him.
Salvation
You must show faith in God and in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Adhere to the practices,
requirements, commandments, laws, and sacraments of the faith. "Witnessing" and active sharing of
their faith with others is fundamental. Avoid behaviors that God dislikes, including celebration of
birthdays and holidays originating from false religions.
Undeserved Suffering
Much suffering is caused by the inheritance of mortality from Adam and Eve, which includes
vulnerability to illness and disease. Also, those who choose to succumb to Satan's temptations may
suffer self-inflicted damage to their health. Satan and his demons cause great misery. God has
allowed the situation to continue so that mankind can discover that God's rule is better than
independent human-rule. He has allowed Satan to cause suffering to challenge Satan's claim that
God's creation, humans, would turn from and curse God under pressure.
Contemporary Issues
Abortion is wrong. Homosexuality is a serious sin. Gender roles are defined: Men are the head of the
household and women are loving caretakers who assist the husband in teaching the children. Divorce
is permitted under certain circumstances, but Jehovah hates remarriage unless the divorce occurred
as a result of adultery. Service in the armed forces or any form of allegiance to government is
prohibited; one must show allegiance only to the Kingdom of Christ. Blood transfusions, along with
ingesting blood, are considered wrong, as God said the soul is in the blood. Bone marrow transplants
are left to the individual conscience. (Note: all other forms of medical treatment are acceptable.)
Like the 3 cults that follow, they sanctify Saturday as the right day of worship, they avoid
material things, they refused invasive medical treatments such as blood transfusion or
organ donation. They also have developed some form of Gnostic theology that tries to
depict Christ as a lesser God. They also teach that Michael, the archangel has equal or
even higher status in relation to Christ. Jehovah Witness is banned in most Islamic
Countries.
5.2
Seventh Day Adventists
Adventists originated in the mid-1800's, when many people in America and Europe became
absorbed in the doctrine of Christ's Second Coming. References in the Bible that seemed to
prophesy the time of Christ's coming aroused their interest. Followers of William Miller, a
Baptist minister, predicted a definite time for the coming, but his interpretation proved wrong.
One group restudied Bible prophecies. It decided that what had happened was the beginning of
the judgment in heaven that is to precede the Second Coming of Christ. This group formed in
1863 as the Seventh-day Adventists.
The problem with the Adventist is the single issue religion, they also started to reject the all
Church institutions and considered themselves the only group that is right concerning the bible
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and prophecies, so they refused all the works of the Church over the years including the Sunday
worship practices taking their followers back to the Jewish practice of sanctifying the Sabbath
(Seventh Day). The combination of the Seventh Day (Sabbath) Practice and the Adventist
thinking gave them their name.
5.3
Church of Christ of Later Day Saints, Mormons
The Mormons are some of the most successful people in the world. They trace their religion to
one Joseph Smith who was a son of farmers. During the early 1800's, Joseph Smith, the son of a
New England farmer, received a series of divine revelations. According to Smith's account, God
the Father and Jesus Christ appeared to him near Palmyra, New York, in 1820. They advised him
not to join any existing church and to prepare for an important task. Smith said he was visited by
an angel named Moroni (no such angel existed in Jewish or Christian literature to that date) three
years later. Moroni told him about golden plates on which the history of early peoples of the
Western Hemisphere was engraved in an ancient language. In 1827, Smith received the plates on
Cumorah, a hill near Palmyra. His translation of the plates, called the Book of Mormon, was
published in 1830. Smith and his associates founded the church on April 6, 1830. It grew rapidly,
and had 1,000 members by the end of the first year. But, there is no proof of these plates. The
stories he wrote and are referred to as the book of Mormons is one of the basic teachings of the
religion. It goes parallel to the Bible and in many ways looks and sounds like Old Testament
prophecies that would be attributed to some lesser prophets. If he wrote it himself or found it (the
claim is translated it), it does not add anything to the Judeo-Christian teachings that existed to
that time.
Joseph Smith and his followers were persecuted in New York State, and they moved to Western
Missouri, where they were persecuted as well and they took a long journey across the country
and settled in what is now the State of Utah.
More Old Testament prophecy is not new, because there is Old Testament prophecies that have
been deleted from the Official Bible, referred to in the Apostolic Churches as the deu-canonical
(Second Canonical) books or Apocrypha (Deleted Books in Greek). The tablets parallels what
Moses received 3500 years earlier.
But like most new religions (cults) there is new rules of conduct of the followers in good
standing. For example, the angel informs Joseph Smith to restore the practice of polygamy which
he restored, and was stopped by federal law as the condition for the State of Utah to be admitted
to the United States. However, some Mormons still practice polygamy either openly, or secretly.
Some are also legalizing their practice by divorcing all wives except for one, but they continue to
live as husband and wives in large families that would include a dozen wives. The Mormon
practices include:
1. New rules for male members of the Church to all join the priesthood of the Church and
advance in the ranks of priesthood as subdeacon, deacon, minister, bishop, etc.
2. Women have to live modest life, raise children, and do more basic family duties such as
backing, cooking, sewing, and as much handwork as she is capable of doing;
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3. Because the Church believes in the second coming and violent events related to the end
of the world, members are required to keep in their homes large amounts of dry goods
and preserved food to last at least 2 months;
4. Young women are trained to do house keeping duties and baby sitting so that, Church
members do not have to hire non-Mormons to care for these life necessities;
5. Paying the 1/10th to the Church;
6. Self Sufficiency;
7. Evangelizing in the homeland and abroad is required. Young men and women to do at
least 2 years of preaching their religion. Serving abroad is preferred over local service.
And serving in another city or state is preferred over doing this voluntary duty at or near
home.
8. The member has to follow the instructions of the Church and be in good standing to not
only attend the local Mormon Church but to be able to join regional temple services that
are not open to the public, but done in privacy in designate Mormon temples that are
closed to the general public;
9. Some of the dietary restrictions include prohibition of the consumption of Alcohol, and at
one point coffee, tea, and carbonated drinks.
10. The Church receives revelations through the highest ranking member of the Church who
is considered a prophet, and is ruled by a council of 12 Apostles who with the Prophet
form the highest authority in the Church;
11. The Prophet and the Apostles reside in St. Lake City and serve in the high temple that is
the Mormon Temple in Salt Lake City. Although the large complex in Salt Lake City,
Utah is open to the public and a major tourist attraction; no visitor is allowed to enter the
Temple. Services in the Temple are limited to an Elite of church leaders from around the
world, it is analogous to Jerusalem for Jews and Christians, and Mecca for Islam except
that the higher place is closed to the public.
12. The Church repeats marriage and baptism services in the temple for members who reach
the spiritual status to have that privilege.
13. The position of the prophet is life long and would is equivalent to the position of
Patriarch or Pope in other Christian Churches.
The Mormon Church is considered by most Orthodox Churches, a heretic cult. Orthodox
Churches can join Christian Church Councils, local and International but they prefer not to join
an entity that includes cults and/or heretic Churches.
5.4
Christian Science
Founded by Mary Baker Eddy in Boston, Massachusetts in 1866. This religion is based on the
promise of healing and the ability of the body of believers to perform wonders and miracles as
Jesus promised in the Bible “the things I do, you can do even greater things if you believe” (---).
"Throughout her youth and early adulthood, Mary Baker Eddy faced poor health and financial
and emotional hardship. She overcame these challenges to become one of the most prominent
individuals of her day. Toward the end of her life, Human Life magazine described her as “the
most famous, interesting and powerful woman in America, if not in the world, today.”
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She continues to be regarded as one of history’s more remarkable figures. Today, her primary
work, Science and Health, engages readers around the world." (The Church of Christ Scientists
Web Site).
This single issue focus makes the service at a Christian Science meeting, a single issue prayer.
The group has a school in Boston to prepare what they call "Christian Scientists" and a very
successful newspaper named, The Christian Science Monitor. They also sponsor reading rooms
in many cities in the USA.
The Christian Science Church is a cult that would not be accepted by many Orthodox Churches
as a Christian Denomination!
5.5
Scientology
A fiction writer who had experimented in psychology, L. Ron Hubbard is the founder of
the Church of Scientology. It was started in the 1950s in fulfillment to his declared aim
to start a religion to make money. It is an offshoot to a method of psychotherapy he
concocted from various sources which he named "Dianetics". Dianetics is a form of
regression therapy. It was then further expanded to appear more like a religion in order
to enjoy tax benefits. He called it "Scientology".
Scientology is a confused concoction of crackpot, dangerously applied psychotherapy,
oversimplified, idiotic and inapplicable rules and ideas and science-fiction drivel that is
presented to its members (at the "advanced" levels) as profound spiritual truth.
Hubbard preached the need to get rid of guilt by following his methods of psychotherapy
and turned that into a religion. This religion in particular is not accepted even by the IRS
who pursued Hubbard for tens of years for tax evasion. No one knows if he is alive or
dead. The movement has a following in many parts of the USA and Canada.
Physco-therapies are wonderful when they work, but to base a religion on one particular
approach in psychoanalysis that is not even accepted by most physiologists can only
happen in America. This no doubt is a cult! Some of the more famous members of this
cult include the actor John Travolta (Mr. Cutter, Taxi on TV, and Grease in the Movies)
and Lisa Marie Presley!
Scientology claims 3200 locations and has a web site in several languages. It seems
that anyone who is clever enough to package a product can sell it in a diverse free
society such as ours. Scientology charges a lot of money to perform dianetcs on anyone
who wants to receive it. They make the false claim that it will improve the person's life.
These claims are not proven. Regression is to repeat the psycho-therapy over and over
again. That sounds crazy to me.
5.6
Wahabis: Mohammad Ibn Abdul Wahab (1703-1792)
(http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/gulf/wahhabi.htm)
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Members of this form of Islam call themselves Muwahhidun ("Unitarians"). They don't
use the term Wahhabi, but rather, Salafi Da'wa or Ahlul Sunna wal Jama'a. The basic
text of this form of Islam is the Kitab at-tawhid (Arabic, "Book of Unity"). Central to
Muhammad Ibn Abd al Wahhab's message was the essential oneness of God (tawhid).
The movement is therefore known by its adherents as ad dawa lil tawhid (the call to
unity), and those who follow the call are known as ahl at tawhid (the people of unity) or
muwahhidun (unitarians). The word Wahhabi was originally used derogatorily by
opponents, but has today become commonplace and is even used by some Najdi
scholars of the movement. Most Wahhabi people live in Saudi Arabia. Almost all people
in Mecca and Medina belong to this school.
The Caliphate was brought into being by the implementation of Islam for about three
decades. They called this short-lived experiment Khilafat Rashidah, the rightly-guided
Caliphate, implying thereby that the rulers that followed were misguided.
Fundamentalists seek the restoration of the Islamic State i.e. the Khilafah, and by
electing a Khaleefah and taking a bay'ah on him that he will rule by the Word of Allah
(Subhaanahu Wa Ta'Ala) i.e. he will implement Islamic laws in the country where the
Khilafah has been established.
Wahhabism [Wahabism] is a reform movement that began 200 years ago to rid Islamic
societies of cultural practices and interpretation that had been acquired over the
centuries. The followers of Abdul Wahab (1703-1792) began as a movement to cleanse
the Arab bedouin from the influence of Sufism. Wahhabis are the followers of Ibn 'Abd
ul-Wahhab, who instituted a great reform in the religion of Islam in Arabia in the 18th
century. Mahommed Ibn 'Abd ul-Wahhab was born in 1691 (or 1703) at al-Hauta of the
Nejd in central Arabia, and was of the tribe of the Bani Tamim. He studied literature and
jurisprudence of the Hanifite school. After making the pilgrimage with his father, he
spent some further time in the study of law at Medina, and resided for a while at
Isfahan, whence he returned to the Nejd to undertake the work of a teacher.
Aroused by his studies and his observation of the luxury in dress and habits, the
superstitious pilgrimages to shrines, the use of omens and the worship given to
Mahomet and Mahommedan saints rather than to God, he began a mission to proclaim
the simplicity of the early religion founded on the Koran and Sunna (i.e. the manner of
life of Mahomet).
To understand the significance of Muhammad Ibn Abd al Wahhab's ideas, they must be
considered in the context of Islamic practice. There was a difference between the
established rituals clearly defined in religious texts that all Muslims perform and popular
Islam. The latter refers to local practice that is not universal. The Shia practice of visiting
shrines is an example of a popular practice. The Shia continued to revere the Imams
even after their death and so visited their graves to ask favors of the Imams buried
there. Over time, Shia scholars rationalized the practice and it became established.
Some of the Arabian tribes came to attribute the same sort of power that the Shia
recognized in the tomb of an Imam to natural objects such as trees and rocks.
Muhammad Ibn Abd al Wahhab was concerned with the way the people of Najd
engaged in practices he considered polytheistic, such as praying to saints; making
pilgrimages to tombs and special mosques; venerating trees, caves, and stones; and
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using votive and sacrificial offerings. He was also concerned by what he viewed as a
laxity in adhering to Islamic law and in performing religious devotions, such as
indifference to the plight of widows and orphans, adultery, lack of attention to obligatory
prayers, and failure to allocate shares of inheritance fairly to women. When Muhammad
Ibn Abd al Wahhab began to preach against these breaches of Islamic laws, he
characterized customary practices as jahiliya, the same term used to describe the
ignorance of Arabians before the Prophet.
Muhammad Ibn Abd al Wahhab focused on the Muslim principle that there is only one
God, and that God does not share his power with anyone -- not Imams, and certainly
not trees or rocks. From this unitarian principle, his students began to refer to
themselves as muwahhidun (unitarians). Their detractors referred to them as
"Wahhabis"--or "followers of Muhammad Ibn Abd al Wahhab," which had a pejorative
connotation. The idea of a unitary god was not new. Muhammad Ibn Abd al Wahhab,
however, attached political importance to it. He directed his attack against the Shia.
Muhammad Ibn Abd al Wahhab's emphasis on the oneness of God was asserted in
contradistinction to shirk, or polytheism, defined as the act of associating any person or
object with powers that should be attributed only to God. He condemned specific acts
that he viewed as leading to shirk, such as votive offerings, praying at saints' tombs and
at graves, and any prayer ritual in which the suppliant appeals to a third party for
intercession with God. Particularly objectionable were certain religious festivals,
including celebrations of the Prophet's birthday, Shia mourning ceremonies, and Sufi
mysticism. Consequently, the Wahhabis forbid grave markers or tombs in burial sites
and the building of any shrines that could become a locus of shirk.
His instructions in the matter of extending his religious teaching by force were strict. All
unbelievers (i.e. Moslems who did not accept his teaching, as well as Christians, &c.)
were to be put to death. Immediate entrance into Paradise was promised to his soldiers
who fell in battle, and it is said that each soldier was provided with a written order from
Ibn 'Abd ul-Wahhab to the gate-keeper of heaven to admit him forthwith. In this way the
new teaching was established in the greater part of Arabia until its power was broken by
Mehemet Ali. Ibn'Abd ul-Wahhab is said to have died in 1791.
The teaching of ul-Wahhab was founded on that of Ibn Taimiyya (1263-1328), who was
of the school of Ahmad Ibn Hanbal. Copies of some of Ibn Taimiyya's works made by ulWahhab are now extant in Europe, and show a close study of the writer. Ibn Taimiyya,
although a Hanbalite by training, refused to be bound by any of the four schools,
and claimed the power of a mujtahid, i.e. of one who can give independent decisions.
These decisions were based on the Koran, which, like Ibn Hazm, he accepted in a literal
sense, on the Sunna and Qiyds (analogy). He protested strongly against all the
innovations of later times, and denounced as idolatry the visiting of the sacred shrines
and the invocation of the saints or of Mahomet himself. He was also a bitter opponent of
the Sufis of his day.
The Wahhabites also believe in the literal sense of the Koran and the necessity of
deducing one's duty from it apart from the decisions of the four schools. They
also pointed to the abuses current in their times as a reason for rejecting the doctrines
and practices founded on Ijma, i.e. the universal consent of the believer or their
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teachers. They forbid the pilgrimage to tombs and the invocation of saints. The severe
simplicity of the Wahhabis has been remarked by travellers in central Arabia. They
attack all luxury, loose administration of justice, all laxity against infidels, addiction to
wine, impurity and treachery.
Muhammad Ibn Abd al Wahhab's mission in his own district was not attended by
success, and for long he wandered with his family through Arabia. Realizing that he
needed political support and authority to effectively reverse the status quo, Ibn AbdulWahhab presented his program of reform to the governors of the central Arabian citystates. He began by approaching Othman Ibn Mu’amar, the governor of Uyayna, his
home state. Ibn Mu’amar was receptive to Abdul-Wahhab’s ideas and allowed him to
preach within the city. As word of the movement spread, however, strong pressure to
silence Ibn Abdul-Wahhab came from powerful tribes in the region who viewed change
as a threat to their decadent lifestyle. Fearing invasion, Othman Ibn Mu’amar felt
compelled to ask the reformer to leave Uyayna.
At last he settled in Dara'iyya, or Deraiya (in the Nejd), where he succeeded in
converting the greatest notable, Mahommed Ibn Sa'ud, who married his daughter, and
so became the founder of an hereditary Wahhabite dynasty. This gave the missionary
the opportunity of following the example of Mahomet himself.
This association between the Al Saud and the Al ash Shaykh, as Muhammad Ibn Abd al
Wahhab and his descendants came to be known, effectively converted political loyalty
into a religious obligation. According to Muhammad Ibn Abd al Wahhab's teachings, a
Muslim must present a bayah, or oath of allegiance, to a Muslim ruler during his lifetime
to ensure his redemption after death. The ruler, conversely, is owed unquestioned
allegiance from his people so long as he leads the community according to the laws of
God. The whole purpose of the Muslim community is to become the living embodiment
of God's laws, and it is the responsibility of the legitimate ruler to ensure that people
know God's laws and live in conformity to them.
Under 'Abd ul-Azlz they instituted a form of Bedouin (Bedawi) commonwealth, insisting
on the observance of law, the payment of tribute, military conscription for war against
the infidel, internal peace and the rigid administration of justice in courts established for
the purpose. Wahhabis consider Wahhabism to be the only true form of Islam. They do
not regard Shi'as as true Muslims are particularly hostile to Sufism.
It is clear that the claim of the Wahhabis to have returned to the earliest form of Islam is
largely justified. The difference between ul-Wahhab's sect and others is that the
Wahabis rigidly follow the same laws which the others neglect or have ceased
altogether to observe. Even orthodox doctors of Islam have confessed that in Ibn 'Abd
ul-Wahhab's writings there is nothing but what they themselves hold. At the same time
the fact that so many of his followers were rough and unthinking Bedouins has led to the
over-emphasis of minor points of practice, so that they often appear to observers to be
characterized chiefly by a strictness (real or feigned) in such matters as the prohibition
of silk for dress, or the use of tobacco, or of the rosary in prayer.
Imam Muhammad Ibn Abdul Wahhab died in 1792.
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The Wahhabi ulama reject reinterpretation of Quran and sunna in regard to issues
clearly settled by the early jurists. By rejecting the validity of reinterpretation, Wahhabi
doctrine is at odds with the Muslim reformation movement of the late nineteenth and
twentieth centuries. This movement seeks to reinterpret parts of the Quran and sunna to
conform with standards set by the West, most notably standards relating to gender
relations, family law, and participatory democracy. However, ample scope for
reinterpretation remains for Wahhabi jurists in areas not decided by the early jurists.
The 1920s marked the beginnings of modern Arabia. ‘Abd al-‘Aziz understood the
potential advantages Western technology offered; the importation of a fleet of
automobiles and, later, the building of airstrips gave him the means of reaching distant
parts of his territory in a fraction of the time required previously. He also ordered the
creation of an extensive information network based on the wireless telegraph, through
which he was able to extend his "eyes and ears" across the country. However, some of
his followers were less than enthusiastic, and their leader spent much time and effort
explaining personally the value of the telephone in particular. ‘Abd al-‘Aziz finally
overcame their opposition by inviting skeptics to listen to recitations from the Qur‘an
being read down the phone line.
Aware that the fledgling nation would be ill-equipped to function in the 20th century
without industrial modernization, ‘Abd al-‘Aziz was eager to embrace technology;
however, he was no less aware that change had to be selective and gradual if it was to
be accepted by the citizenry. Arabist and historian Leslie McLoughlin pointed out that "it
was the insight of Ibn Sa‘ud that slow change without disabling disputes was better than
speed of change with great disruption."
Under Al Saud rule, governments, especially during the Wahhabi revival in the 1920s,
have shown their capacity and readiness to enforce compliance with Islamic laws and
interpretations of Islamic values on themselves and others. The literal interpretations of
what constitutes right behavior according to the Quran and hadith have given the
Wahhabis the sobriquet of "Muslim Calvinists." To the Wahhabis, for example,
performance of prayer that is punctual, ritually correct, and communally performed not
only is urged but publicly required of men. Consumption of wine is forbidden to the
believer because wine is literally forbidden in the Quran. Under the Wahhabis, however,
the ban extended to all intoxicating drinks and other stimulants, including tobacco.
Modest dress is prescribed for both men and women in accordance with the Quran, but
the Wahhabis specify the type of clothing that should be worn, especially by women,
and forbid the wearing of silk and gold, although the latter ban has been enforced only
sporadically. Music and dancing have also been forbidden by the Wahhabis at times, as
have loud laughter and demonstrative weeping, particularly at funerals.
The Wahhabi emphasis on conformity makes of external appearance and behavior a
visible expression of inward faith. Therefore, whether one conforms in dress, in prayer,
or in a host of other activities becomes a public statement of whether one is a true
Muslim. Because adherence to the true faith is demonstrable in tangible ways, the
Muslim community can visibly judge the quality of a person's faith by observing that
person's actions. In this sense, public opinion becomes a regulator of individual
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behavior. Therefore, within the Wahhabi community, which is striving to be the collective
embodiment of God's laws, it is the responsibility of each Muslim to look after the
behavior of his neighbor and to admonish him if he goes astray.
In the 1990s, Saudi leadership did not emphasize its identity as inheritor of the Wahhabi
legacy as such, nor did the descendants of Muhammad Ibn Abd al Wahhab, the Al ash
Shaykh, continue to hold the highest posts in the religious bureaucracy. Wahhabi
influence in Saudi Arabia, however, remained tangible in the physical conformity in
dress, in public deportment, and in public prayer. Most significantly, the Wahhabi legacy
was manifest in the social ethos that presumed government responsibility for the
collective moral ordering of society, from the behavior of individuals, to institutions, to
businesses, to the government itself. King Fahd Ibn Abd al Aziz Al Saud repeatedly
called for scholars to engage in ijtihad to deal with new situations confronting the
modernizing kingdom.
5.7
Bahaii Faith
The Bahaii Faith is a variation of Islam introduced by an Iranian Pious man in 1844. Mirza
Hussein Ali (Baha-Ulla - "Glory of God") - is the Prophet-founder of the faith.
Baha-Ulla was born in a well-known noble family in Persia on November 12, 1817. He
sacrificed his wealth and priviledges for the sake of announcing of his teachings to the peoples of
the world. The main points of his spiritual principles are: the unity of God, unity of religions and
unity of people. He announced that the religious truth is relative, but not absolute, and it is the
progressive revelation of the teachings of God for directing the spiritual evolution of the
mankind. On the unity of the mankind, he wrote: the Earth is one country, and the mankind are
its citizens".
Baha-Ulla got the first heavenly revelations in 1853. In the winter of 1853, he was sent to exile
in Baghdad, Iraq. Ten years later, before leaving Baghdad, Baha-Ulla made a public
announcement that he expresses the revelations of the God, the return of which was predicted by
many religions. After years of exile in Istanbul and Adrianople (Edirne) Baha-Ulla was sent in
1868 to the prison-city Akka, where he died in 1892, after 40 years of exile, imprisonment, and
suffering.
The writings of Baha-Ulla consist of thousands of messages and embrace and refer to many
aspects of human life, from very personal matters to the issues that the modern society is so
desperately seeking the answer for. His teaching has the purpose of uniting all races, peoples and
religions of the world in one human family, and has the aim of achievement of strong and
universal peace. Among his teachings are "Independent search for truth", "Equality of men and
women", "The accord of science and religion", "Rejection of all kinds of fanaticism". Baha- Ulla
also propagated the universal obligatory education and establishment of the system of justice and
unity in the world. The Bahaii faith is banned in most Moslem countries. The followers of the
faith are finding it easier to live in the West than in the place of the origin of their faith, Iran.
However, it is practiced underground in Iran and the Arab countries.
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5.8
The Reverend Son Myung Moon"Unity of Sciences" Cult
(by Laurence Hecht; 21st Century Science & Technology Magazine, Fall 2002)
In 1972, the Reverend Sun Myung Moon, better known in contemporary circles
as the Mephistopheles of Poontang, took over the franchise on the Unity of the
Sciences movement. The latter, a cult operation as evil as Moon’s, but more
intellectually damaging, was founded in the mid-1930s under leadership of John
Dewey, Bertrand Russell, and Otto Neurath of the Vienna Circle of logical
positivists. In the 1950s, it merged with Robert M. Hutchins’s University of
Chicago publishing operations to become the International Encyclopedia of
Unified Science. Thomas S. Kuhn’s The Structure of Scientific Revolutions was
one of its more successful ventures.
It would be wrong to suppose that the many Nobel Prize-winners and other leading scientists,
who have graced the dais at the annual Reverend Moon-sponsored International Conferences on
the Unity of the Sciences, were merely taking advantage of a nice honorarium and a chance to
sound off in public.
Some, like physicist Eugene Wigner, for example, or the neurophysiologist, Lord Edgar Douglas
Adrian, were perfectly witting in what they were about. Much more so, than the psychologically
damaged Korean preacher, who calls his religious vision in a North Korean torture cell “my
brainwashing,” and never misses a chance to remind his audiences that the highest truth is that
the male and female sex organs fit together—“unity.” (Yes, he would be a joke, were it not for
the fact that he owns, or is right now buying up, a good chunk of the U.S. Congress, the
President of the United States, and a spectrum of religious figures from Jerry Falwell to Louis
Farrakhan—paid for by the flow of dirty money from the drugs and arms trade that has financed
the rise to prominence of the Moon cult.)
It is only possible to make sense of the curious marriage of the Reverend Moon with the
leadership of world science, by taking a step back in history to examine some developments
which will strike the typically miseducated college graduate as rather strange. We will be
publishing the full case in the near future. We have only the space here for the short version.
Every word we write is carefully researched and documented. So pay attention, and keep an open
mind. If you should discover that your college education was largely a consumer fraud, there will
be plenty of time later to bring the lawsuit.
The Moon cult and the Unity of the Sciences Movement are two operations spun out of a London
thinktank in the early part of the 20th century, known variously as the Coefficients Club, the
Roundtable, and Milner’s Kindergarten. Leading strategists included Lord Robert Cecil, Lord
Alfred Milner, Leo Amery, Halford Mackinder, H.G. Wells, and Lord Bertrand Russell. The
problem facing them was how to maintain the power of a maritime-based, financier oligarchy, in
a world threatened by the growing industrial strength of the United States, Germany, France,
and, Japan. World War I was their first big project; the failed League of Nations the second.
The Program
In 1928, their propagandist Wells, issued the program of the grouping in a book titled The Open
Conspiracy. The plan, openly discussed, was to create a “new world religion” that would channel
the power of self-sacrifice, characteristic of religious zeal, into implementing the goals of the
conspiracy. These were, as summarized by Wells:
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“Firstly, the entirely provisional nature of all existing governments, and the entirely provisional
nature, therefore, of all loyalties associated therewith:
Secondly, the supreme importance of population control in human biology and the possibility it
affords us of a release from the pressure of the struggle for existence on ourselves; and
Thirdly, the urgent necessity of protective resistance against the present traditional drift towards
war.”
The first action of the “Open Conspiracy” was to be the cultivation of a mass-based peace
movement. It began at Oxford University, and spread among student populations in Europe and
the U.S.A. in the 1930s, in the form of a solemn, signed pledge never to participate in any war,
and to refuse service if drafted.
The organizer of the movement, which later became known as Moral Re-Armament, was an
American preacher turned British intelligence agent, named Frank Buchman. He was an ardent
admirer of Hitler, and included Gestapo chief Himmler and Rudolf Hess in his membership lists.
But Buchman was also supported by the Archbishop of Canterbury, and counted Edward VIII,
when he was Prince of Wales, as a member. In the U.S.A., his pre-war supporters included
movie mogul Louis Mayer, Los Angeles Times publisher Harry Chandlee, and David Dubinsky
of the International Ladies Garment Workers Union. After World War II, Buchman’s Moral ReArmament emerged as a major cold war vehicle, particularly in Western Europe and the Far
East. His 1949 conference in Switzerland was attended by European parliamentarians and a
bipartisan delegation of the U.S. Congress, flown in by military aircraft.
Moon’s Korean ministry got plugged into Moral Re-Armament at the time of the Korean War, or
before. After the war, the small Moon operation was picked up by military intelligence circles
connected with the notorious MK-ultra program for psychedelic drug experimentation, and
Tavistock-originated group dynamics programs for social manipulation. He was set up in the
United States, under highest level intelligence cover, in the early to middle 1960s.
The Cult of Science
Apart from the mass peace movement, the other side of the Open Conspiracy involved science in
two ways:
First, to build a weapon of mass destruction so terrible it could be used to force nations to forego
their sovereignty. Wells’s Hungarian disciple, physicist Leo Szilard, played the leading role in
this. Szilard was the real-life model for Dr. Strangelove in Stanley Kubrick’s famous film of that
name, and also the lifelong friend and political adviser to Eugene Wigner.1
Second, to turn biology from the science of life into a branch of inorganic physics.2
To accomplish this, it was necessary to first degrade the scientist’s conception of himself.
Another member of the Coefficients Club, Lord Bertrand Russell, played the key role in this.
Russell was a product of the Cambridge Aristotelian Society. His early career was built on an
absurdly incompetent attack on philosopher Gottfried Leibniz3 and Carl Friedrich Gauss’s
greatest student, Bernhard Riemann. The essence of it all was to prove that universal genius was
impossible, human creativity did not exist, and the mind is only a collection of logical elements
(which artificial intelligence would later attempt to replicate out of electronic spare parts).
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Russell’s dilletantish excursions into philosophy were consistent with the program of the
Machian-influenced logical positivism of the Vienna Circle, and John Dewey’s pragmatism. The
denial of the synthetic a priori, i.e. creativity, and consequent reduction of all knowledge to mere
logical formalism, is the common feature of both systems.
In 1935, refugee members of the logical positivist Vienna Circle joined with a collection of
American Trotskyists grouped around John Dewey in the first meetings of the Unity of Sciences
movement in New York. At a 1938 meeting at the University of Pennsylvania, with Russell in
attendance, the Unity of Sciences movement was launched in earnest.
This was the operation that the Reverend Moon’s Unification Church incorporated under its
wing in 1972.
Dr. Strangelove, meet the Reverend Moon.
Notes
1. Wells had already foreseen the use of an atomic weapon in a 1913 work of fiction, based on
physical chemist Frederick Soddy’s 1908 The Interpretation of Radium. Its realization was made
possible by the collaboration of Szilard and Eugene Wigner in winning Einstein’s backing for a
letter urging President Roosevelt to begin research on an atomic bomb, arguing with no basis in
fact, that Hitler was about to develop one. Very few of the scientists working on the Manhattan
Project as a patriotic duty knew that some people actually intended to find a way to use the bomb
before the war was over.
2. Niels Bohr’s colleague Max Delbruck and physicist Szilard, who reinvented himself in the
postwar period as a molecular biologist, were crucial players. The Cold Spring Harbor
Laboratory, founded by Harriman family funding in the 1920s to promote the “perfection of the
race” through eugenics, was the center of this effort in its early days.
3. Russell claimed to have comprehended all of Leibniz’s philosophy under five logical
premises, which he (Russell) had discovered. Finding that almost none of Leibniz’s published
work was consistent with the five premises, Russell decided that Leibniz was lying about what
he really believed.
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5.9
The Jim Jones Cult
Jim Jones was a Baptist minister who served youth in San Francisco, California and was very
successful in attracting young people to his ministry, bringing them to the knowledge of the
Gospel and to Christ. There are thousands of these types of ministers who are doing a wonderful
Church Outreach Service, especially to young people on Campuses during a very dangerous time
in their lives as they try to gain independence from parents and chart a course for the rest of their
lives. This would have been all well, except that at some point Jim Jones started to be critical of
the organized Church and the common culture of the world in general, and North America in
Particular.
In 1973, Jim Jones started a communal life for his followers in Redwood Valley, near San
Francisco. This was called: "The People temple" that was praised by some local politicians
including then Governor of California, Jerry Brown. The young people usually did minimum
wage jobs and survived on very little material necessities. At that point in the life of the youth,
they estranged from their parents, dropped out of school, or going slowly in their studies, and if
they were fortunate enough to graduate, they are not motivated to seek well paying professional
jobs. Some parents are angry and looking for their children using different means such as law
enforcement, private detectors, or even volunteers who are either religious or religion haters who
are against this type of controlling other human beings.
The young people some are confused and others are actually on the same wave with the leader,
even more fanatic than he is. The group grew tremendously in San Francisco, and the leader is
not able to continue because of the restriction organized society puts on his ability to expand, so
he finds a place in the jungles of Guyana in central America, that was dubbed Jonestown, He
moved his followers to that country in 1977. The life in the commune would be similar to the life
of novices in a Christian Monastery: Prayers, Bible Studies, Lectures (Indoctrination) by the
founder and a few of his most trusted followers, mostly doctoring that he improvises as he goes
along, and work related to the everyday needs of the commune, the nature of the surrounding
region (planting, harvesting, etc.), and ways to spread the doctrine using today media: printed
page, audio and video media as well. Life can be great in this type of commune as long as the
general attitude is blissful. Everyone is satisfied and not many frictions among the members of
the community.
The pressure from parents increase on US government to bring back the young people to USA.
The concern must have been high enough to cause a congregational committee to be formed. The
committee sends a congressmen, Leo Ryan, on fact finding mission. The congressional group
returned a second time, but this time with demands that Jim Jones allows those who want to
return home to the USA to be allowed to do so:
" There had been signs for some time that something was deeply amiss within the ranks of the
Peoples Temple. In 1977, Jones and his San Francisco-based church began to attract the attention
of the government after reports in the media quoted defectors as saying he had been guilty of
physical and sexual abuse. The increased attention led Jones to relocate his church to a patch of
wilderness in the Guyana jungle. …
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The accounts from the jungles of Guyana were anguishing.
Rep. Leo Ryan had become the first and only congressman
ever assassinated in the line of duty. He, his aides, some
journalists and a few defectors from cult leader Jim Jones'
Peoples Temple had been ambushed by gunmen on an airstrip
near Jonestown, the primitive enclave where Jones had brought
hundreds of his followers.
Ryan and his group had gone to the Jonestown compound in
Guyana to explore allegations that Jones was keeping followers
there against their wishes. They had met with Jones and his
disciples that day and were preparing to fly home when they
were attacked. Besides Ryan, three journalists and one defector
were killed, and several others in Ryan's party were wounded."
(Jeff Brazil, Los Angeles Times, December 16, 1999).
Dead followers of Jim Jones
lay before his "throne"
.
Jim Jones felt the pressure of the government and that they can apply pressure through the
government of Guyana to close his camp. It was unbelievable what he and the leadership he had
did: “They agreed to group suicide as their only option, and protest against outside forces, and
"sinful society" that are trying to disturb their “blissful” life 3000 mile away from the native
land?”
The leaders gathered everyone, explained to the community what it means in their view to
disband, and they get the agreement of many of their followers who have been under their
control for several years to the plan instituted by their spiritual father, Jim Jones. That is to die
together. They distribute a flavored drink (Kool-Aid) that contains sedatives and poison.
Majority of the people (~400) at the camp drank it in a ritual which most likely was led by the
spiritual father in which heaven was promised as the reward. However, few were found with
single bullet shots to the head. Everyone in the Camp was dead together. Very few people
escaped to tell the horror story, one was sentenced for participating in the assassinations and
helping in the killing. This sad event took place on November 18, 1979.
The prize they all went for could not be received if one considers what it means to commit
suicide in Christianity; it means eternal separation from God according to most interpretations of
the New Testament. Cults can end in a similar disaster in most cases, because they are going
against all the norms of most human societies. The same happened a few years latter to the
followers David Koresh in Waco, Texas, .. Moon in San Diego California, etc.
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5.10 Branch Davidian (David Koresh) Cult
The parallels between Jim Jones and David Koresh are amazing.
David was born Vernon Howell, a high school drop out who
became musician was interested in the study of the Bible and in
particular prophecies concerning the end of the world and the
second coming of Christ. He memorized good portions of the Bible
and attracted many children and women to his sermons. He then
decided that he was a man with a mission from heaven, a prophet,
even more, He claimed to be the lamb in the Book of Revelation
that can open the seals of the book. Even the Christ
Vernon Howell aka
David Koresh
He changed his name legally to David Koresh in California, and two years later bought a small
peace of land 10 miles east of Waco, a 75 acres ranch in Waco, Texas in very sparsely populated
area away from people who would not follow his second coming theology.
He had with him ~ 200 people, mostly couples that ascribed to his teachings or single women
with children. Some came from as far as Canada, Australia, New Zeeland, etc. Once in his
commune, he asserted his leadership that included having sex with several women some were
underage run away girls. According to a WACO Tribune-Herald investigation, he:
• abused children physically and psychologically;
• boasted of having sex with underage girls in the cult;
• and has had at least 15 so-called "wives."
According to the Waco Tribune-Herald: "Women in the cult make up the so-called
House of David, former cult members testified. The children they produce with Howell
supposedly will rule the earth with him after he and his male followers slay the
nonbelievers.
Former cult members said Howell tells the men that they will get their perfect mates in
heaven. Each man's mate will come from his rib, as Eve came from Adam. On earth,
though, all the women, even those married, are meant for Howell."
He also realized that some of his action, such as polygamy is against the laws of the
USA, so he acquired large amount of guns and munitions. The daily routine included
prayers, Bible Studies, sermons by the leader Koresh, and the routine house keeping, cooking,
and caring for little babies activities.
The government was informed about the activities in the commune including sexual
abuse of minors from parents of some of the young females in the group, and from
some who defected from the commune. The government sent Alcohol Tobacco &
Firearms (ATF) agents to investigate weapons charges, a shoot out ensued when the
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Koresh people refused to allow the government agents in the compound. Two ATF
members were killed. The compound was surrounded with FBI and Local Police agents
for over 80 days.
One of the delay tactics used by Koresh was a request to allow him to write the
interpretation of the opening of the Seals of the Book of Revelation. In over 40 days, he
produced material that covers 2 Seals. He had 5 more to complete his request. The FBI
decided to attack the compound after they realized that negotiations including phone
conversations with Koresh has failed to convince him or his followers to surrender. At
some point a few women and children were allowed to leave. Obviously the writing of
the interpretations was not going to produce a quick end to the siege situation. The
government using armored vehicles (tanks) attacked the
compound and suddenly the compound was engulfed in flames
and many of the people inside died in the massive fire that
gutted the building where they were all crowded in while the
compound was under siege. This was on February 28, 1993. a
short lived cult that produced a human tragedy when 80 people
were decimated in the fire, some were also found with gun shot
wounds. The FBI was accused of impatience and the FBI in return
accused the cult of not cooperating with law enforcement, and
disobeying the laws of the land.
Mt. Carmel Burning
A year after the Mt. Carmel tragedy, Tim McVey, a white American fanatic sympathizer blew up
the Federal Building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma killing over 242 ?/ people. He was tried by a
federal court, found guilty and executed.
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6.
Islam:
Islam is a religion influenced by the heresy of Nastour. There is so much to write about Islam,
See http://www.islamreview.com
Mohammad Ibn Abdullah was born in 572 AD to Abdullah and Amna, pagan parents from the
tribe of Kourish. When his father died, his uncle Abdul-motaleb raised him and took care of his
affairs. Mohammad and his uncle engaged in the merchant (camel caravan) trade that was very
popular with Mecca, his hometown, as a travel post between Yemen and Damascus, Syria. They
carried goods from Yemen (Incense, herbs, and spices) to the region of Shaam (Great Syria,
Palestine, and Jordan) and they carried back goods from Shaam (Grain, Dried Fruits, Cloth
fabrics, etc.) to Yemen in long camel caravans.
Mohammad was not educated, but had natural smarts that led him to gain the confidence of one
Khadija, the niece of the Nestorian Christian Bishop of Mecca, Waraqua Ibn Nofel.
Mohammad, the prophet of Islam came upon the heresy of Nastour and it became the center
piece of his thinking. He encountered both Waraqua Ibn Noufl, the Nestorian bishop of Mecca;
and the uncle of Khadija his first wife; and Bohira the heretic Egyptian monk; who met
Mohammad and his uncle Abdul Mutalib in the monastery of mount Sinai when Mohammad was
a youth; and Bohira put his hand on his head (blessed him) and told him that he will be an
important person. Both influenced his thinking and caused him to record sayings that are for the
most part ranting and raving against the Jews and the Christians and criticisms of their beliefs.
When he presented his orations (Quran) to the leaders of the two religions in the Arabian
Peninsula, they were rejected by both groups so he started to fight the Christians and Jews and
evicted those that were not killed out of the Arabian Desert. And we see that change in the
difference between chapters (souras mecciah) written in Mecca and the ones written in Medina.
The prophet Mohammad rejected the holy trinity, the Incarnation of the Word, the passion
(suffering and death) of Christ; and the descent of the Holy Spirit. He taught monotheism similar
to what in Christianity we called the Nestorian Heresy, and the Heresy of Eutycha. For that
reason by Christian standards, Islam is a heresy of Christianity.
The Koran is a book that the prophet Mohammad claimed to be the word of 'Allah' (God) sent to
the prophet by the angel Gabreel (Archangel Gabriel). But when yo read the text in its original
tongue (Arabic) or even in softened language translations (English) you are encountering text
that is not the language of angels, and is not the language of God'. It is full of hatred and threats.
Our Christian understanding of God; whom we love and worship; is that of a loving and
forgiving God. Our God is God of Love, not hate. The language does not pass the test. There is a
continuous theme of attacking those who called 'Issa Ibn Marium God' (Exactly what Nestor said
in 382 AD). A Christian in good consciousness cannot call Islam a religion; we must conclude
that it is a heresy.
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The 114 chapters ('souras') of the Koran and 2700 sayings referred to as Hadith (sayings of the
prophet) are full of attack on the two major religions. Also, from the sayings of the prophet they
made religion and the state one single entity: "Islam is religion and state" ('deen wa-donia'). So,
any society in which there is separation of religion and state is not considered a proper society by
Islam. And the only religion that Moslems will accept is of course Islam. So, all of the Western
nations are considered heathen, pagan, and hostile by 'true' Moslems.
The practices of religion in Judaism and Christianity were so violently opposed by the prophet of
Islam that he prohibited priesthood of any kind and adopted the concept of secular leadership of
religion, and the idea of Imam (Leader) to be anyone qualified to lead the prayer service or the
oldest in a group.
However Islamic Religion Leaders emerged and although they claim the prohibition of
priesthood, they do all the functions of a priest, bishop, and patriarch by being full time
dedicated, compensated, and elevated.
Examples are Sheikh Al-azhar and the hierarchy of thousands of religious leaders in the
organization that runs all mosques; religion schools and several Azhar universities in Egypt.
Sheikhs and religion police in Saudi Arabia that will whip anyone that is on the street when the
call for prayer is being broadcast all over the nation. Mulla's in Iraq, Iran, and Afghanistan are
considered holy men whose word is higher than any law.
The Grand Imam of Jerusalem who is in charge of religious affairs in old Jerusalem and directly
responsible for "al aqusa mosque" and the mosque of the dome of the rock "masgad qubuat al
sakhra." These are patriarchs in the full meaning of the word.
There are rituals in Islam although the party line denies their existence:
1. All Moslems are required to memorize and recite the Koran in a very ritualistic manner
of sitting down, cross legged, covering the ear(s), and moving the head up and down;
2. Methods of oration emerged and are used in ceremonial readings with different tones for
festive and mourning occasions; This is taken from the Coptic (Christian) methods of
reading the Gospels.
3. The prayers that started as a dozen verses repeated five times, evolved to have a special
and longer versions of the recitation during feasts and celebrations to fill the span of 2
hours instead of 10 minutes;
4. Carrying of flags, banners, and lights during feasts;
5. Preferred foods and sweets for celebrating the month of Ramadan, and the feasts;
6. The Haaj rituals in which men and women dress in white flowing robes and circle the
kaba (Black Stone) in Mecca, and throw stones at the devil ('shaytan') in Yathrib
(Medina) is a pagan ritual that existed before Islam and thrived under Islam;
7. The demand to dress in special way and the use of special colors is a ritualistic behavior.
Moslem men are to grow a beard, wear white flowing robes and sandals on their feet. By
doing so they are dressed like the prophet dressed. Women are also required to wear hijab
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(veil) as was ordained by the Koran for the wives of the prophet; and some wear "niquab"
head to toes outer dress that has restrictions on the color and type of materials to wear.
8. Men and women have to wash five times everyday ('ablution') and when they take a bath
there is rules of a proper Muslim bath! Concerning washing the head three times, the
hands and the arms, the mouth and the nostrils, blowing the nose, and washing the feet
and legs last as one is about to step out of the bath! These customs were ahead of their
time in the desert 1400 years ago, but seem to be archaic in today's society with running
water and abundance of cleansing compounds.
It would have been all right if Islam wanted to co-exist (equally), but this is not the case from the
beginning. Islam wanted to make all other religions null and void, wanted them to cease and
desist. This is the goal of every good Moslem.
That is what they did first in the Arabian Peninsula by killing many Jewish men and asking the
remaining Jews and the Christians to leave. It is well known that the tribe of bani-ghassan
(Christians) moved out of Arabia to present day Iraq during the life of the prophet. The Jews also
fled after many of their men were killed in Mecca in a massacre ordered by the prophet..
When they invaded the surrounding region (starting in 632 AD) they gave the inhabitants three
options: 1) convert to Islam, 2) pay 'guyzia' (religion tax), or 3) be killed. Omar Ibn El-Khattab
also issued a decree referred to as Omar's Decree in which he gave the Christians and Jews
conditions for staying in their religion by mainly:
1) Paying guyzia (religion taxes also referred to as poll tax);
2) Keeping their religion to themselves; and
3) Promise of not revolting against and not criticizing Islam.
6.1
Omar's Decree (The biggest human rights violation in history)
Omar was a young man, beloved by Mohammad and one of his warriors. After the death of the
prophet, Abu Bakr, an elderly follower, a friend, and father in-law of the prophet (his daughter
Aisha was wed to the prophet and she was still a child (6) years old. The marriage was
consummated when she became 9 years of age) was chosen to be the first Kaliph (632-634 AD).
Abu-Bakr died two years after he became 1st Caliph. The 2nd Caliph. Omar started the wars
against the neighbors of the Arabian kingdom, and was able to send his soldiers to invade the
whole region now known as the Arab World. The numbers of soldiers he used was small, but the
empire he was fighting (The Eastern Romans Empire, the Bezantyne) was very weak. He sent
the following decree to the rulers of the provinces of Egypt, Palestine, Syria, and Iraq: All these
countries were Christian nations for the most part. So, to rule "ahl al-kitab' he issued a decree
limiting their religious practices and preaching to be done inside their communities only, with a
complete ban of evangelism. He gave the Moslem male person the right to marry women from
all races and all religions, but he made it a crime punishable by death for a non-Moslem to marry
a Moslem woman to this day in many countries of the world, Omar's Decree is practiced. That
would be considered a grave human rights violation today:
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6.2
Omar's Decree: Status of 'ahl-alzema' Dhimmis (Protected)
For several centuries following the codification of the Quran, the Islamic Caliphate
expanded its political control rapidly through warfare. Conquered peoples - including
Christians, Jews, Zoroastrians, Sabians, and Hindus - became dhimmis: protected
citizens under Islamic law, allowed the rights listed below on condition of loyalty or
acquiescence to the government and paying the taxes mentioned below:
Rights:
‰ Protection of life, wealth and honor by the Muslim state (even against other coreligionist states)
‰ Right to reside in Muslim lands
‰ Right of worship according to their own religion
‰ Right to work and trade
‰ Exemptions:
‰ Exemption from paying zakah "alms to the poor"
‰ Exemption from being drafted in military service
‰ Exemptions from religious duties specific to Muslims
‰ Exemptions from personal Muslim laws (e.g. marriage, divorce)
Obligations:
‰ Paying jizyah (Poll tax)
‰ Paying land tax
Other points: Later legislation in the Sharia codified the rule that Jews and Christians
were forbidden to blaspheme the Quran, the religion of Islam, or their prophet
Muhammad. Jews and Christians were also forbidden to ask Muslims to join their faith,
but Muslims were allowed to ask Jews and Christians to convert to Islam (see
proselytization). Jewish and Christian men forbidden from marrying Moslem women, but
Moslem Men could marry Christian or Jewish women as they please. Violation of these
rules could invoke the death sentence.
Dhimmis were sometimes subject to other restrictions. Each of the following were
forbidden to dhimmis at some point somewhere in the world:
‰ Holding public office. This was very rarely enforced: in reality, many non-Muslims
held high positions in Muslim states, including Shmuel Ha-Nagid in Spain, as well
as others in Egypt and Iraq
‰ Bearing weapons
‰ Riding camels or horses. Also rarely enforced - in reality, the average dhimmi in
a Muslim state was more well-to-do than an average Muslim, a disparity that
continues till today in many Muslim countries.
‰ Building houses of worship higher than mosques
‰ Mourning loudly , or Ring the Bells of their Church
‰ Dressing in the same way that Arabs dressed. Dress codes were rarely enforced,
so that dhimmis would be visibly distinct from Muslims. Note that the practice is
not found in the Quran or hadith.
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I like to ask anyone that is not Moslem, if he will not be allowed to preach his religion
anymore if he lived in 'dar al-islam' (The abode of Islam) when Islam takes over one
country after another. Prediction that Europe will be majority moslem before the end of
this century! The USA, Canada, and Australia are not much farther behind..
So, if any religious leader started to compare Islam to his religion, the agreement is null
and void and the war against this group began immediately. He also gave himself the
right to preach Islam to them while the others are not allowed to speak about (preach)
their religions. This is what kept the Copts of Egypt, Maronites of Lebanon, Jacobites
(Syrian Christians), and Assyrians (Iraqi Christians) alive. This would be called Human
Rights Violation and Genocide today!
6.3
The Latter Days:
It is very interesting and alarming what started to happen in the world 50 years ago,
culminating in terrorism, highjackings, and destruction of life and property of nonMoslems in Egypt, Lebanon, Philipines, Indonesia, Kenya, Tanzania, and most recently
in Eurpoe, Australia, and North America. Islamists are coming out of the woodworks
demanding that the world listen to their demands or else.
September 11, 2001 (9/11) is the wake up call to the whole world. It is now thrust upon
the world to put a stop to 1400 years of aggressive behavior by one race, one religion
against the rest of humanity.
When it was localized in the Middles East no one cared. All the religions and ethnicities
of the region were decimated by Islam, calling everyone Arab. When Islam started to
attack the fringes of Europe, also no one cared Byzanta (Asia Minor and Eastern
Europe) did not fair well because in 1054 AD it was attacked by the Ottomans and was
taken over and forced to Islam. Presently the number of Christians in Istanbul is less
than 10,000 persons. The whole region was Orthodox Christian before 1054 AD.
Spain however, stood up to Islam in the 1490s and drove the moors (Moroccans) out of
Spain and restored their Catholic Nation under the Emperor Ferdinand and the Queen
Isabel. This is considered by Moslems a defeat that should have never happened,
because up to this time they won every war they engaged in from 600 AD to the 1400s
(800 years of wining).
Islam is moving into North America, Australia, and Europe in alarming rates: 7 million in
USA, 5 Million in England, 5 Million in France, 5-10 million in Germany, etc. Moslems
regardless of what they say have one priority; that is to turn every place they enter into
an abode of Islam ('dar al-aslam'). That means a place where "Allah" is worshipped and
"Allah" religion is the only religion.
They have a systematic system in which at first they are very friendly even appeasing,
and they are accepting of the rules and customs. But as their numbers increase they
start demanding change that sounds fair and beneficial to all sides. When the situation
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is ripe for their Islamic revolution, they will wage wars against the host countries and will
subdue the whole nation to Islam. Some experts are giving the West 100 years or less
to be put in the position the Middle East and the Islamic Nations were put in over a
period of 1400 years. The weak morals in Australia, North America and Western Europe
are a major factor in accelerating this time table.
When the Moslem population starts showing the West how weak it is in dealing with
homosexuality, pornography, and promiscuity they will make the leaderships of the
cities, towns, and states in the West ashamed of what they are able to accomplish and
they will take over by showing you a better way called Islam.
The religion was spread by the sword in the past, and no one was able to stand up to
them. This time they use deceit. They tell the gullible West that they believe in Issa
(Jesus) and Moussa (Moses). What they don't tell is on their own terms and with their
own one track mind understanding. They are instructed to do what it takes to get ahead.
At first by nice talk, then by harsh talk, pronouncements and threats. And when they
have the upper hand they will kill anyone who stands in their way. This is the Moslem
way.
To Moslems the belief in Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is heresy. That Issa was born of a
virgin (Mariam) yes. But he was not crucified and did not die defying the historic record
of what happened in Jerusalem in 35 AD, under Pontus Pilate. You could not even
discuss it with them, because that is what their Koran says: ('ma salabuhu, ma kataluhu,
inma shobeha lahum') (They did not crucify him, they did not kill him, but that is what
they thought they did?).
When you try to explain the meaning of born of the father, begotten not created, you
might as well talk to a wall. Then you are called 'mushrik' (says that God is two), 'kafir'
(Heretic) or Infidel, and deserving of death on the hands of the believers. It is a mob
mentality that is very dangerous.
The only way to stop the progress of the Islamic revolution it is to refuse the followers of
Islam the right to attack anyone and to deny them the right to apply their laws, preferring
to strenghten and apply the law of the land always. Also, we in the West need to come
back to God and restore our morals so that we are not the easy target of criticism Islam
uses to criticize Christians and Jews and all the others.
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6.4
The Chapters ('souras') of the Koran
The names of the Chapters/books/ Souras of the Koran are very interesting. Here a full listing:
1. The Opening
2. The Cow
3. The Family of Imran
4. The Women
5. The Dinner Table
6. The Cattle
7. The Elevated Places
8. The Accessions
9. The Immunity
10. Jonah
11. The Holy Prophet
12. Yusuf
13. The Thunder
14. Abraham
15. The Rock
16. The Bee
17. The Children of Israel
18. The Cave
19. Marium
20. Ta Ha
21. The Prophets
22. The Pilgrimage
23. The Believers
24. The Light
25. The Distinction
26. The Poets
27. The Ant
28. The Narratives
29. The Spider
30. The Romans
31. Luqman
32. The Adoration
33. The Clans
34. The Saba
35. The Originator
36. Yasin
37. The Rangers
38. Suad
39. The Companions
40. The Believer
41. Ha Mim
42. The Counsel
43. Ornaments of Gold
44. The Smoke
45. The Kneeling
46. The Sandhills
47. Muhammad
48. The Victory
49. The Chambers
50. Qaf
51. The Scatterers
52. The Mountain
53. The Star
54. The Moon
55. The Beneficent
56. The Event
57. The Iron
58. She Who Pleaded
59. The Banishment
60. The Examined One
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61. The Ranks
62. The Congregation
63. The Hypocrites
64. The Mutual Deceit
65. The Divorce
66. The Prohibition
67. The Kingdom
68. The Pen
69. The Inevitable
70. The Ways of Ascent
71. Nuh
72. The Jinn
73. The Wrapped Up
74. The Covered One
75. The Resurrection
76. Time
77. The Sent Forth
78. The Great Event
79. The Draggers
80. He Frowned
81. The Folded Up
82. The Cleaving
83. The Deceivers in
Measuring
84. The Rending
Asunder
85. The Celestial
Stations
88. The Overwhelming
Calamity
91. The Sun
86. The Nightly Visitant
87. The Most High
89. The Daybreak
90. The City
92. The Night
93. The Brightness
94. The Expansion
95. The Fig
96. The Clot
97. The Grandeur
98. The Clear Evidence
99. The Quaking
100.
The
Chargers
101.
The Calamity
102.
Vying in
Abundance
103.
104.
The Slanderer
105.
106.
The
Qureaish
107.
Alms
108.
The
Abundance of Good
109.
The
Disbelievers
112.
The Unity
110.
The Help
111.
The Flame
113.
The Dawn
114.
The People
The Age
The Elephant
Each Chapter is called a 'soura' Souras range in length from few lines ('aya') to 200 lines; e.g.
The Opening is 6 lines; e.g. The Family of Imran 200 lines long, that is a mixing of the stories of
the family of Moses and the Family of Mary (the mother of Jesus)?.
Then a careful examination of the names and stories in the Koran shows some mixing of names
and events. The explanations from Islam is that these are the messages given to the prophet by
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the angel Gabreel from "Allah." More reasonable explanations are many: 1) The inability to read,
2) The language barrier between one speaking Greek and one who new only Arabic, 3) Oral
transmission of stories, and the ability of one to keep the different stories straight for 20 years, 4)
The foreign (Greek) pronunciation of names and places could be transmitted differently based on
the ability to comprehend and imitate the sounds, a very common situation in multilingualmulticultural communications.
6.5
Hadith (Sayings of the Prophet):
Sahih Bukhari is a collection of sayings and deeds of prophet Muhammad, also known as the
sunnah. The reports of the Prophet's sayings and deeds are called ahadith. Because it was
written 200 years after the death of the prophet, some of the hadith could be unreliable. Also the
original number was 2602 hadith written as over 9,082 hadith because some are repeated 2 or 3
times according to different recollections of different people.
Bukhari's collection is recognized by the overwhelming majority of Muslims to be one of the
most authentic collections of the Sunnah of the Prophet. Ahadith are full of stories telling the
Moslem believer to hate and persecute non-Moslems. Also, full of superstition of a man who
washed 5 times a day and made laws concerning bathing and dressing do's and don’t'. In one
hadith he gives permission to young men to have pleasure marriages, another allows polygamy
but when it came to Ali Ibn Abutaleb wanting to marry over the prophet's daughter Fatima
(mother of Hassan and Hussein) he calls it a hurt to him personally.
Bukhari (full name Abu Abdullah Muhammad Ibn Ismail Ibn Ibrahim Ibn al-Mughira al-Ja'fai)
was born in 194 A.H. and died in 256 A.H. His collection of hadith is considered second to none.
He spent sixteen years compiling it, and ended up with 2,602 hadith (9,082 with repetition). His
criteria for acceptance into the collection were amongst the most stringent of all the scholars of
ahadith. It is important to realize, however, that Bukhari's collection is not complete: there are
other scholars who worked as Bukhari did and collected other authentic reports.
6.6
Branches of Islam
The harsh pronouncements of Islam against apostasy, makes it very difficult to form a new
branch/denomination of Islam. There is only one major splinter group that grew to be a large
denomination, namely the Shiites (followers of Ali Ibn Abi-taleb). The rest are considered
movements/revolts. Sunni Moslems (followers of sunna, laws/commandments of Allah brought
to the world by his prophet Mohammad) form the majority of Moslems and in a way are
analogous to Catholism in Christianity, the Universal religion.
6.6.1 The Sunnis ("traditionalists")
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85% of Muslims are Sunnis
Sunnis consider themselves the guardians of Islamic orthodoxy and tradition as
established by Muhammad and the four "rightly guided caliphs"
Sources of Religious and Legal authority are the Qur'an and hadith
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Analogy (qiyas) and Consensus (ijma') used to resolve problems not explicitly
mentioned in Qur'an and hadith -- also led to the important role played by legal
scholars in order to determine consensus and draw analogies
Sharia: believe that both individual and communal life should be guided by the
Sharia
Four Schools of Interpretation:
o Hanifite -- favors use of rational judgment in determining what is best for
the common good (most influential in Iraq, Pakistan, India, and Central
Asia)
o Malikite -- turns first to consensus and then to analogy in order to
determine right path (most influential in North Africa, Egypt and eastern
Arabia)
o Shafi'ite -- accepts the authority of the Hadith and de-emphasizes the role
of reason (most influential in Indonesia)
o Hanbalite -- reaction against the reliance on 'opinion' in other schools;
maintains that the Qur'an is the supreme authority and only the Hadith is
accepted as also authoritative (dominant school in Saudi Arabia)
o
6.6.2 Shiite ("Partisan') Moslems
If we equate the Sunnis in Islam to the Catholics, Shiite Moslems would be the Orthodox. More
strict understanding of the Religions. The Shiite Movement started after the assassination of Ali
Ibn Abu-taleb, the cousin of the prophet Mohammad, husband of his daughter Fatima, father of
his two grandsons Hassan and Hussein, and the fourth and last of the wise kaliphs (‘kulafa
rshedeen’). After Ali was assassinated by Abu Sefian? the seat of rule was moved to Damascus,
Syria. The family of the assassinated caliph fled for their lives to Iraq, but the killers of the
Kaliph Ali pursued the mother and the two boys in Iraq and killed the two boys Hassan and
Hussein in Karbala. The followers of Ali were many and they and others who witnessed the cruel
pursuit and the bloody assassinations carried a guilt for not being able to defend the Kaliph at
first, and later on the helpless widow and her two sons. This sad chain of events produced a
practice in the group that followed Ali's legitimacy claim. Every year from that time onto this
day, they hold a martyrs celebration in which they weep, they chant, and they slash their bodies
and faces with sharp objects and some use a bundle of chains to beat themselves on both sides of
the body as a sign of grief that does not go away.
The Shea branch of Islam is popular in Iran (more than 95% of the population) and in Iraq (60 %
of the population). It is not popular in the rest of the Islamic countries. However, in the last
hundred years it began to gain popularity in other Islamic countries. The civil war in Lebanon
1973 – 1980's increased the number of Shea in Lebanon through external funding of
revolutionary activities. The Shea in Lebanon represents an important element in the struggle
against Israeli occupation of southern Lebanon.
‰
Shi'ites began as a political dispute over the leadership of Islam; considered Ali
(cousin of Muhammad) as the first legitimate successor to Muhammad -- "Shia
Ali" (the party of Ali)
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Shi'ites believe revelation ended with Muhammad and the Qur'an, however, also
consider there to be a tradition of imams who were endowed with supernatural
powers to interpret the Sharia; teachings of the imams are considered infallible
Shi'ites called "Seveners" because they believe that there was a series of seven
imams that succeeded the martyrdom of Husayn (Ali's youngest son)
Shi'ites have traditionally believed in the existence of a Mahdi--a messiah figure
who will one day appear and restore the purity of the faith
Month of Muharran, the martyrdom of Husayn is reenacted by Shi'ite Muslims
Shi'ites distrust the traditional Sunni reading and interpretation of the Qur'an. (It
is thought that b/c the current version does not mention Ali as Muhammad's
successor, it must have been tampered with by his enemies. The Qur'an,
therefore, must have hidden meanings that can be known only through
allegorical interpretations)
Ayatollah ("sign of Allah"): considered to be one so righteous and steeped in the
true faith that he can make independent judgments that carry the authority of the
imam.
Shi'ites are the ruling majority in modern Iran; influential minority in Syria,
Lebanon, Yemen, Pakistan, and Iraq.
6.6.3 The Sufis (mystics)
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‰
‰
‰
The word sufi means "woolen", and refers to the coarse wool garments worn by
early Muslim mystics as a symbol of poverty and the rejection of worldly
pleasures.
Sufis trace their origins back to the Prophet Muhammad and the Qur'an.
They teach that earlier Islam was more concerned with true spiritual matters as
opposed to the more materialistic concerns of Islam once it had expanded into a
world power
al-Hallaj: proclaimed "I am the truth"; he was considered a heretic and executed
in 922
al-Ghazali: professor of theology that sought to synthesize the legalistic and
mystical schools of Islam; prescribed Sufism as a remedy for spiritual ills, but still
considered mystics to be bound by the ritual duties of the orthodox faith
6.6.4 The Nation of Islam ("Black Muslims")
‰
‰
‰
‰
Founded in Detroit in 1930 by Wallace Fard, who proclaimed a revelation for
African Americans that their salvation would come through self-knowledge by
which they would recover a sense of their own history
Elijah Muhammad was Fard's successor after Fard's mysterious disappearance
in 1934
Elijah Muhammad taught that Fard was an incarnation of Allah; urged his fellow
blacks to withdraw from white society and to create their own institutions
Traditional teachings include distrust of Western materialistic culture, the belief
that humanity was originally black, and that the white race was created by a
black scientist named Yakub who had rebelled against Allah, Christianity is
considered a danger as the religion of Western culture.
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Followers maintain strict lifestyle of prayer five times a day, no intoxicants or
tobacco, pure diet, and no illicit sex.
Malxolm X and Elijah's son and successor, Wallace D. Muhammad, made
attempts to bring the Nation of Islam more into line with traditional Islam (e.g.,
"The World Community of al-Islam in the West")
The followers of Ali were called and later started to call themselves Shiites “sheaa” meaning
followers of someone, . As they became distinguished in proclaiming their loyalty they were
persecuted more and they found refuge in southern Iraq and in Iran. For this reason the majority
of Iraqi’s (60%) today are Shiite. More than 95% of Iran are Shiite. Until 100 years ago there
was hardly any Shiite outside the two mentioned regions, but open societies and freedom of
expression caused their brand of Islam to spread elsewhere. Shiites tend to be more strict
Moslems and more interested in purifying Islam by making it more intolerant of other religions.
Sheea have developed a more literal interpretation of the Koran and Hadith. They also tend to be
less tolerant of other religions and in particular Judaism and Christianity because they insist that
the two religions are not what they originally were or meant to be. When the Sunii Moslems and
the Christians in Lebanon were trying to find harmony, a rising group of Lebanese Shiites started
to refuse the status quo and rebelled against the government in Beirut forming a militia to fight
Israel even if they had to do it alone. This is not the desire of some extremist individuals, but
more the of a reflection of the teachings of their sect/denomination of Islam.
The Iranian-Islamic revolution against the Shah (Emperor) Mohammad Reda Bahlawi, is a vivd
example of the power religious leaders possess in Shiite Islam. One man, Ayatollah (‘the soura
of Allah’) Khomeni who became overnight the ruler and spiritual leader of the nation. The whole
nation was forced to throw away western culture and western values and go back to live like
nomads in their manners and their dress and their speech. He cut relations at least temporarily
with most Western nations, whom he called infidels and even some moderate Moslem nations
like Egypt whom he calls corrupt Moslems. Everything was to be ruled by the Koran and
Shareaa (Islamic Law). That means that women have to wear the veil. Men have also to dress
like the prophet Mohammad and his disciples (White flowing robes, head dress, sandals, and to
grew beards and mustaches). Gold rings are forbidden. Alcohol is a grave sin, Speaking to nonbelievers or taking them as friends is an act of treason against the nation. Apostasy, killing, or
fornication are punished by death. Stealing is punished by the cutting of the hand, and anyone
who speaks against the religion or the Ayatollah is punished by death.
Some of the actions of the Ayatollah regime that were not reported for fear of more retribution is
his orders to the very few Christian missionaries to leave the country before they are killed, and
the killing of some Iranian followers of Judaism and Christianity. Khomeni had nothing against
Jimmy Carter, US President in 1979 but his refusal to release the 242 American taken hostage in
Tehran was to humiliate our president who was a very peace loving man (Won Noble Prize for
Peace in 1998?), he did that and cost Mr. Carter the election in 1980. These events are echoes of
past conflicts long time ago between Rome and Persia? It is a religious war even if we call it
something else, because the words are so bad!
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Shiite Moslems are permitted four wives as Suniis also do. The Shiites takes the contract back to
7th Century practices. That a contract does not have to be on paper, it is man’s word. So a man
can tell a woman, I married you to myself. Does not need to put that on paper, because written
contracts are the practices of the Infidel Jews and Christians. He can also tell her that you are
divorced and that is all he needs to do to divorce his wife.
In a program on LBC (Lebanon Broadcast Company), the largest Lebanese Satellite TV Station,
a round table discussion about marriage included a Catholic (Maronite) Priest, A Sunni Religious
Leader, and Shiite Religious Leader. After discussing marriage and divorce in Islam and topic of
Polygamy, one in the audience brings up the concept of “Pleasure Marriage” whereas the Sunni
Leader make the statements that this existed in Islam but not desired in today’s society to be
shred to pieces by the Shiite leader who insists that it is part of the teachings of Islam. Moreover,
he insists that if a man marries a woman for pleasure, then the only purpose of the marriage is
pleasure and he should not try to make a conventional marriage out of the relation. That he has to
divorce her when the pleasure purpose is no longer there. Since the paper contract is not required
or desired by this strict Islamic teachings. How is this different from unregulated prostitution?
6.7
Modern Islam:
There is a new brand of Islam that started in the second half of the 20th Century. The
new Islam came out of necessity, because until that time Islam was spread by war. Now
the different races are moving around in the world through immigration, work
opportunities, treaties such as NATO that included Moslem nations with Western
countries, and new laws that came out of the end of Colonial times, especially the
British Commonwealth, the French Speaking Countries Organization, and Former
French Colonies Privileges These socio-economic changes increased the numbers of
Moslems in traditionally "Christian" nations such as Canada, USA, Australia, England,
France, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, Italy, etc.
The New immigrants are also either highly educated or able to gain education in the
west. Theses are estimated to be: 7 million in USA, 5 Million in England, 5 Million in
France, 5-10 Million in Germany, etc. Majority of these new citizens are loyal to their
adopting countries, however, they have to be loyal to their religion as well. Knowing the
effect of religion on people, a good religious person would tend to be more loyal to the
religion than to the nation. As such, Moslems in Western Society are in a conflict
because they are followers of Islam and in the meantime they are trying to be faithful to
their adopting countries. There is fundamental conflicts between Islam and the life of a
non-Moslem nation:
1. You are not allowed to call to prayer from the minerate of the mosque, the top of
your longs, or Radio and TV 5 times a day, as it is done in Islamic countries
where TV and Radio programs are interrupted for the call of prayer when it is
due; this is counted by the minute day or night.
2. Even if a man is able to grow a beard and wear a white flowing robe ('galabya')
and sandals; it is not publicly accepted. Women are even in a bigger crisis
because they cannot wear the veil in schools and most work places;
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3. You are allowed to preach religion on Radio and TV if you pay for it and it cannot
be 24/7 except on special satellite stations;
4. When you fast the month of Ramadan, you cannot make a national affair of it in
most Western countries because the majority does not even want to hear about
it;
5. Western laws are not considered by "true" Moslems legal and definitely are not
the Sharea of Allah;
6. Pornography, Homosexuality, and other Promiscuous behavior is offensive to
Moslems but if they do anything against it, they can be in violation of laws big
time!
7. You cannot teach religion in publics schools. Private schools would only teach
Islam if the school was a Moslem School. Even then their programs have to be
approved by state and federal regulators.
End result is being seen now when some leaders of Islam in the West are having to
denounce actions by other Moslems that are basing their actions on the teachings of
Islam. In particular Jihad (Struggle) is part internal and part external.
The internal part of jihad is to fight one's desires and natural habits that prevents one
from doing his religion duties of: praying 5 times a day, fasting the month of Ramadan,
Alms (giving to the poor), refusing to buy or consume foods that are not 'halal' legal, that
can be costly because it is not everyday commodity products, and saving money to do
the duty of pilgrimage to Mecca and Madina.
This is well understood by all religions. All religions have their own internal strives
(jihad). Another internal conflict that surfaces all the time is for Moslem women and
female children to wear the veil that is being forbidden in some Western countries such
as France. Another form of veil called "nequab" is to cover head to toes and walk
around like a moving tent will not be acceptable in most societies outside Moslem
society for safety and security and for fear of terrorism.
Moslems in the USA and Canada are also joining Ecumenical groups in many cities.
The Ecumenical Movement is organized by the majority religion (the Infidels) in the USA
that is still Christianity. Joining Ecumenical groups is a heresy to a purist because now
you are saying that I am OK! You are OK! Not only to the Christians and Jews whom
the Koran calls "ahl al-ketaab" (People of the Book (Holy Bible)), but you are also
saying you are OK! To Bahaii, Hindu, Buddhist, Shinto, Sikh, .. etc.
The external Jihad is the one that troubles non-Moslems and it is hard to imagine Islam
without it. Because, Islam through the Koran and Hadith requires all Moslems to preach
the religion and to make everyone they preach Moslem. Islam says that Ibrahim is a
Moslem, Moussa is a Moslem, Issa is a Moslem. So, John, Peter, Michael, and Sung-yu
Sin has to also be Moslem. We also know the process of achieving this:
1. Preach Islam to the Infidels;
2. If they listen accept them;
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3. If they don't be kind to them and try to explain more;
4. But, if they insist on their "wrong ways" it is the duty of the Moslem to Kill them,
because their blood is allowed!
This external Jihad is what is troubling about Islam. The Modern Moslem is struggling
with it and in most cases he finds his hands tied behind his back if he wants to live in
society that is not "Daar AL-Islam" (The Abode of Islam). He is not doing all that is
required of him. Heresy, Apostasy, corruption in the eyes of the "true believer"
More about Islam will be published in a separate book: About Islam.
7.
Concluding Remarks:
The purpose of this book was to present the heresy (grave sins) and the heretics who committed
them. It shows that over 3500 years humanity, especially in the Middle East, where Judaism,
Christianity, and Islam were born all three religions had great contributions towards making
human beings more civil in their dealing with each other but at the same time they are all riddled
with grave sins and heresies that in some cases undermined the religion itself and what it is
about. Some grave sins are worse than the others and these were the subject of this book. We
could not present every single heresy, but presented some of the major ones.
In presenting heresies and grave sins, we are trying to show the weakness of man that is best
treated by the mercy of God, his love and compassion and not by harsh pronouncements. Also,
we would like to mention that freedom of choice is a heavenly gift when denied by some
religions it makes one wonder that a true God will be so harsh on his creation. Then one wonders
if a religion or religious leader was wrong in his assertions.
Our reader should be able to reference many other sources to understand or to know more.
Whatever your religion is, it is important in our view to follow the spirit rather than the letter of
the religion, because literally following a religion can lead to damnation. Literal interpretation
leads back to the dark ages.
It is very sorrowful to see men walking around in flowing white robes and wearing sandals in 20
below zero weather because of literal interpretation of what the religion says. Some of the
pronouncements of the past fit a time and climate that is different than a world wide presence.
It is also sad to see men and women fighting for placing women under the veil because it was
ordained some 1400 years ago in a different time and completely different culture. It was
intended to prevent men’s sexual desire toward women other than their wives. But it ends up to
be punishment and mistreatment of women for the sake of men’s cleanliness.
Our religion for example says the opposite completely, that men have to control their desires
without penalizing women. Why Moslem women do not revolt against such practices. I am
surprised that the religious ones are brain washed to not only accept the inconvenience but also
to demand that all women do like them. Modesty is the teaching of most religions. Women can
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dress modestly, but they don’t have to cover themselves head to tow for the sake of helping men
control their desires. Men have to learn to control their desires. This is the better way.
Is it fair to kill someone if he does not agree with your religion? We see that to be cruel and
unfair punishment. It does not pass the civilization test of: “thou shalt not kill!” Why not teach
and warn, and let the creator deal with His creation: each according to his deeds!
What will happen when Moslems have the upper hand in running the affairs of a city, a state, or
a country in Europe, Australia, or North America: Will they kill off all the “infidels” a literal
interpretation of Islam would make this horrifying hypothetical episode possible. What will they
do to all the homosexuals, lesbians, atheists, and pagans: Will they kill them? I hope not
although I don’t agree with their behavior as much as Moslems do.
What will happen if Islamic laws are applied in the West: Will they cut off the hands of the
thieves, the tongues of the liars, and stone to death all the others accused of capital crimes? I
hope not. It is very disturbing to entertain any of the above thoughts even for one minute!
May the merciful God have mercy upon us all. And in his mercy, May He lead us to correct our
ways so we can be pleasing to Him. This is my only hope. That through His goodness and His
infinite love he can cover all the sins of all humanity and this will lead the sinner to sin no more,
and the aggressor to act aggressively no more? And we all enjoy the Love, Peace, and Protection
of one loving, caring, and merciful God. Amen.
8.
References:
This book is intended to educate the reader about the different practices and sins of the three
major religions: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. We sought many references, but key concepts
not well understood in the Western Culture are supported by information gleamed from many
books written in Arabic, some are not available in western languages.
Many historical records are not available formally in studies related to religion, some are not
available in English, and some are verbal tradition that was not available in writing until now.
Foremost among the references are:
1. The Holy Bible, New King James Revision. Also See:
http://www.biblegateway.com
2. The History of The Coptic Orthodox Church, Hegomen Arsanious Atallah AlMouharaquy, 1964, Cairo Egypt (Arabic)
3. The History of the Copts; Iris Habib Al-Massry ; Cairo, Egypt, 1964 (Arabic)
4. The History of the Copts; Iris Habib Al-Massry, English Translation by original Author
5. The Koran Al-Kareem, Arabic
6. The Koran and Hadiths, English Translation, University of Michgain. Also See:
http://www/um.edu/koran
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