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It has been said that “The Christian religion is a parody on the worship of the Sun, in which they put a man whom they call Christ, in the place of the Sun, and pay him the same adoration which was originally paid to the Sun.”- Thomas Paine
This is a most serious charge against Christianity as most know it and if such a charge can be shown to have validity then one should be honest enough before God to begin a serious investigation in his religious beliefs in order to separate truth from fiction.
Well it is for certain most who read our articles don’t wish to be in “sin”. A small article of this size cannot possibly do justice to such a complex and verbose subject as we have at hand but I hope to “break the egg” so to speak to help our readers begin to scrutinize the subject matter at hand in more detail by their personal study. Let's closely examine the original, conceptual foundations of the Christian faith, and then decide what to do with the serious “charge” made at the beginning of the article; that the Christian faith today is nothing but an evolution of “sun” worship transfigured into “Son” worship. Again I wish to reiterate the seriousness of such a charge if it can be proven.
But in order to do that, we must go back not 2000 years to the birth of Christ, but 10 to 15,000 years to
the birth of modern man. For when one seeks to establish foundations, one must begin at the beginning.
Many thousands of years ago, in what we refer to as the "primordial world" of the ancients, human life was a far different experience from that which we enjoy today. While it is true that we have less documentation on that prehistoric world than we have on our own age, enough is known from the ancient writings to paint a rather clear picture of our remote ancestry. If we have learned anything at all, it is this: "That the more we change, the more we stay the same." And nowhere is this more clearly demonstrated than in the history of man's quest for "God", and the ancient religion we still keep holy.
According to the best understanding we have gleaned from the available records, life for our ancient forefathers was a mixture of wonder and fear. Each day, just finding food for one's family without becoming a meal oneself was a life-and-death struggle. It was from these meager, distressful conditions of the human race that our long history of the search for God and meaning of life has come.
Any evolution, at its most accelerated rate, is always agonizingly slow. But from the beginning, man's profound questions demanded answers. When no clear answers were forthcoming from the universe, man turned inward and developed his own. The study of this subject is termed "Astro-Theology" or the “worship of the heavens ”.
It did not take ancient man very long to decide that in this world the single greatest enemy to be feared was the darkness of night. Simply stated, man's first enemy was darkness.
With this one fact alone, one can readily understand why the greatest and most trustworthy friend the human race would ever have was heaven's greatest gift to the world . . . the Glorious Rising Orb of Day . .THE SUN. With this simple truth understood, we can now begin to unravel ascent of man and the origin of the “crucifixion of the sun”; or should I say the “crucifixion of the Son”. Notice the word-play and stay tuned!
Today, as in all of mankind's history, from almost every nation under the sun, we find the same religious story told over and over. This story transverses all races and nationalities as far as recorded history can be discovered. This is of major importance as it has a direct bearing of what you have been told as “religious truth” by your religious authorities. This same story has once again been told anew to most of you, as well as I, in the churches we attend as well as in the New Testaments we carry. This is the story of Christianity: "The Greatest Story Ever Told." If one could undertake only a simple inquiry into the matter one would quickly see the hundreds of parallels between Christian metaphors concerning its “crucified savior” and the natural reality of the sun and sky which are so striking and startling that one would come to the conclusion rather easily that the “Christian revelation of its crucified savior” does constitute a new and unique revelation, but rather a re-telling of the same old myths which have been handed down since the earliest times of mankind which the earliest written records attest!
Modern-day Christianity has often belittled our ancient ancestors who are not here to defend themselves. They accuse them of being nothing more than ignorant worshippers of miscellaneous gods. Therefore we can, with assurance, summarily dismiss 14,000 years of human spirituality as ignominious myth believed by well-meaning but gullible primitives. Too much of this kind of spiritual arrogance and religious pride has continued without challenge . . Until now! The time has come to set matters straight.
The "Greatest Story" went something like this . . .
The ancient peoples reasoned that no one on Earth could ever lay claim of ownership to the Great Orb of Day (the sun). Such a magnificent heavenly body must belong to the unseen Creator of the universe. It became, figuratively speaking, not man's, but "God's Sun." It was only a short hop and skip to the understanding that "God's Sun" was . . ."The Light Of The World."
As stated before, in the dark cold of night man realized his utter vulnerability to the elements. Each night, mankind was forced to wait for the "Rising of The Sun" (resurrection of the Sun) to chase away the physical and mental insecurity brought on by the darkness. Therefore, the morning Sun focused man's attention on heavenly dependence for his frail, short existence on Earth. Doing so, it became an appropriate symbol of divine benevolence from heaven.
So just as a small fire brought limited light into man's own little world of darkness, likewise, the "Great Fire of Day" served the whole Earth with its heavenly presence. For this reason, it was said at Deut. 4:24 and Heb. 12:29 that the God of the Bible was a "Consuming Fire" in heaven. And so He was!
It was accepted by all that man was bound to a life on Earth, but the sky was the abode of God's Sun. He resides "up there" in. . . "Heaven."
Ancient man saw in his male offspring his own image and likeness, and his own existence as a father was proved by the person of his son. Thus, it was assumed that "God's Sun" was but a visible representative of the unseen Creator in heaven. So it was said, "When you have seen the Son, you have seen the Father." Said another way, "The Father is glorified in His Son."
Ancient man had no problem understanding that all life on Earth depended directly on life-giving energy from the Sun. Consequently, all life was lost without the Sun. It followed that "God's Sun" was nothing less than "Our very Savior." This is a major concept in the evolution of religion and should not be under estimated in the creation of future theologies; especially in the Gentile nations who will have their multitudes of “crucified saviors” which would serve again as precursors to the Jesus story of Rome. Logically, even if man himself dies, as long as the Sun comes up each day, life on Earth will continue forever. Therefore, it was said in the ancient texts that everlasting life was "the gift" that the Father gives through his Sun. Not for you personally but for the Earth . . . everlasting life!
Since evil and harm lurked at every turn in the fearful dark of night, all evil or harmful deeds were naturally the . . ."Works of Darkness." And of course the evil of night was ruled over by none other than . . . "The Prince of Darkness." Hence, evil is of the Dark or of the “D-Evil”…the Devil.
Mankind progresses through his history but he retains his fears and phobias as well as his religious concepts based upon such superstitions as we have shown. We now have before us two cosmic brothers - one very good, and one very bad. This would be the basis for all Dualistic Religions that preceded Christianity. One brings the "truth to light" with the "light of truth." The other is the opposite, or in opposition to the light - "The Opposer" . . . Prince of the World of Darkness.
At this point we come to Egypt. More than three thousand years before Christianity began, the early morning "Sun/Savior" was pictured in Egypt as the "New Born Babe." The infant savior's name was "Horus."
At daybreak each day, this wonderful, newborn child (represented by the Sun…the Sun/Savior) is of course "Born Again". Horus is risen on the Horizon as the sun rises in the East daily.
And of course "God's Sun" goes to His death at sundown wearing a "crown of thorns" or "corona" (the rays of the sun so clearly seen at sunset)/ Remember the Statue of Liberty? To this day, kings still wear a round crown of spikes, symbolizing the rays of the Sun!
The Egyptians knew that the Sun was at its highest point in the sky (or high noon) when no shadow was cast by the pyramid. At that point, all Egypt offered prayers to the "Most High" God! As stated before, to the ancients, the sky was the abode, or heavenly temple, of the "Most High." Therefore, "God's Sun" was doing His heavenly Father's work in the temple at 12 noon!
The world of ancient man kept track of times and seasons by the movement of the Sun - daily, monthly, yearly. For this, the sundial was devised. Not only the daily movement of the Sun was tracked on the round dial, but the whole year was charted on a round calendar dial. Examples: Ancient Mexican, Mayan, Inca, Aztec, Sumerian, Babylonian, Assyrian, Egyptian, Celtic, Aryan, etc. With this method, certain new concepts emerged in the mind of ancient man
Since the Earth experiences four different seasons, all the same and equal (in time) each year, the round calendar was divided into four equal parts. This represented the complete story of the life of "God's Sun." The famous painting of The Last Supper pictures the 12 followers of the Son in four groups (of 3) . . . the four seasons of the year! Think on this for a minute!
On the round surface of the yearly calendar, you draw a vertical line directly across the middle, cutting the circle in half - one end being the point of the winter solstice; the other end being the point of the summer solstice. Then draw another straight line (crossing the first one). One end of the new line is the spring equinox; the other end is the autumn equinox.
You now have the starting points for each of the four seasons. This is referred to by all major encyclopedias and reference works, both ancient and modern, as "The Cross of the Zodiac." Thus, the life of God's "Sun" is on "the Cross." This is why we see the round circle of the Sun on the crosses of Christian churches. The next time you pass a Christian church, look for the circle (Sun) on the cross.
On December 21 or 22, the Sun, going south, reaches its lowest point in the sky (our winter solstice). By December 25th, it is clear that the Sun its returning northward. Therefore on December 25th the sun is “Born Again.” Christians stole December 25th from the Roman celebration of Sol Invictus-the Sun Unconquered. And to this day, worshippers still celebrate the birthday of the Sun only under the disguise of the birthday of the Son…Jesus.
It was well understood by ancient man that our weather was caused and controlled by the Sun. It was a simple fact that God's Sun had the power to control storms at will. The ancient Egyptians taught that He did this as He rested in His heavenly boat while crossing the sky. The story of Jesus calming the storm (Matt. 8:23-27) echoes this.
The next point to be made requires first a little background. Christians have always referred to God as "The Father." But viewing God as a father didn't start here - it goes back far into the ancient world. The reason is: Our planet was always viewed as our "Mother Earth or Mother Nature." And since rain (the life-bringing fluid), falling from heaven, impregnated and brought life to Mother Earth, it was therefore believed that our Father was in Heaven.
Though all of the essential pieces of the Christian story were long in existence before Egypt, it was with the coming of the Pharaohs that the story was finally codified and became religious dogma. Though the story varied in some details from place to place in Egypt, the essence was always the same: God’s Sun was the “Light of the World,” who gave His life for us.
In ancient Egypt it was said that if you wanted to follow the life of God’s Sun and thereby “live in the light of God’s Word,” one would have to leave his old ways of life to “Follow the Sun.” But before beginning this new life in “The Word,” one must die to the old way of life and be “Born Again.” Your first birth was “out of water” your mother formed you in. Because her water broke and your new life began, rebirth is symbolized by coming out of total immersion in water-baptism-or being born again.
In Mal 4:2, the God of Heaven is described as the "Sun of Righteousness with healing in His wings." The Sun with healing in His wings?? Then in the New Testament in Matt. 23:37 and Luke 13:34, we see God's Son wanting to gather all under "His wings." This is most appropriate for, in Egypt, the Sun was always pictured with His wings. I mention this only to show you that even the Old Testament is not immune from such symbolism within itself.
These points here mentioned are a few of hundreds, if not thousands of direct connections that can be made between the Christian Bible Story and the far more ancient, original story from the origin of religion among mankind. My purpose for drawing your attention to this literary plagiarism is best stated by Alfred North Whitehead who said, “ No lie can live forever,” and Egyptologist Gerald Massey, “They must find it difficult, those who have taken authority as the truth, rather than truth as the authority.”
I would like to leave you with a quote which I hope will serve as an impetus for your further study into these areas in order that you “cast out the leaven” of perverse lies taught as truth:
“All Indo-Germanic nations have worshipped crucified Saviors and overwhelming proof was obtained that the sun-myths of the ancient Aryans were the origin of the religion in all the countries which were peopled by the Aryans”…Charles Morris. Let us study to show ourselves approved by God. Anyone wanting to look into this subject more thoroughly might read Aryan Sun Myths …The Origin of Religion by Charles Morris…and Bible Myths by T. W. Doane.