Flying Chariot Ministries

Over the last two centuries some historians, teachers and authors have stepped forward on seemingly strong grounds to question the existence of the Christian Messiah. This observation is based on the evidence of an array of writings that predate Christianity, which portray pagan gods with characteristics that parallel the resurrected Son of God.

Below, I have arranged a list of dieing and resurrecting gods, predominantly compiled from two sources, Kersey Graves’, Sixteen Crucified Saviours and a work by Acharya S called, Suns of God – Krishna Budda and Christ Unveiled.

Here is a brief summary:

·       Tammuz (Dumuzi), the Mesopotamian god of Assyria, Babylonia and Sumeria was a god who died and rose again.

• The god Iao of Nepal survived crucifixion, but bore the evidence in his hands and feet.
• Hesus of the Celtic Druids was crucified between a lamb and an elephant. The lamb represented innocence, while the elephant represented sin.
• Quezalcoatl, the Plumed Serpent god of Mexico, is said to have incinerated himself and ascended to the sky. Before he left he promised to return and bring about peace and harmony to the earth.
• The Roman war god Quirinius was born of a virgin. A reigning king called Amulius sought his life. When he was put to death the day became as night.

·        Prometheus, the god of Caucasus had his crucifixion, burial and resurrection performed in pantomime five hundred years before the Messiah.

·        Sculptures discovered in Egypt reveal the story of the god Thulis, who came to earth to save mankind. He eventually suffered a violent death, but resurrected and became the judge of the dead.

• The Tibetan god Indra was born of a virgin. He walked upon water and was crucified and resurrected. He existed as an eternal spirit and his followers were called Heavenly Teachers.
• The female god Alcestos of Euripides was part of a trinity. She was crucified for the sins of the world.
• The god Attis of Phrygia was crucified, buried and resurrected.
• The Chaldaean god Crite was called the “ever blessed son of god,” “the saviour,” and after he was crucified he was seen as the “atonement offering for an angry god.”
• Bali of Orissa went by several names, all of which signified “lord second,” as in the second person of a trinity. He was crucified as a sin offering.
• The Persian god Mithras was born on the 25^th of December and crucified on a tree to atone for mankind.
• Devatat, the god of Siam died on a cross.
• Ixion of Rome was crucified on a rotating wheel.
• Apollonius of Tyana in Cappadocia died on a cross. There are long lists of miracles attributed to Apollonius in Christian writings yet they are allegedly silent on the manner of his death.
• Inanna (also known as Ishtar), a Sumerian goddess was crucified and descended into the underworld from which she subsequently escaped after defeating a great enemy.
• Indian god Krishna was pierced by an arrow under a tree, which he was later hung from. His followers came to let him down but his body had vanished.
• The Nordic god Odin hung from a tree and was resurrected.
• Perseus of Greece was conceived of a virgin and grew up among fishermen. He chose to rule over a lesser kingdom and ascended to the sky.
• Buddha of India was born on December 25^th of a virgin. A king threatened his life, he was baptised in water and he performed miracles. He died and rose to Nirvana.

Relevant Christian groups boastfully exhibit the flood comparison in ancient cultures to endorse the authenticity of the Genesis account, but unfortunately shy away from exhibiting the above list of died and risen gods through fear of exposing the ingredients of a fabricated New Testament Messiah.

The concept of death and resurrection among the gods appears irrefutable. Though archaeological evidence of these accounts predating the Messiah’s death and resurrection is scarce, there are notable exceptions that must be addressed. But before we do, let’s delve deeper into the debate.

Reference books relate that Rome eventually accepted Christianity, but they fail to specify that this came about by commandeering a sect of Messianic Judaism and absorbing it into existing pagan practices. This product became known as Christianity, which is largely a Gentile centered faith completely apposed to the nation to which was originally entrusted with God’s oracles. As a result Christianity today ultimately sees itself as something separate to Old Testament Israel. Despite the warning in Isaiah 56:3; “Do not let the son of the foreigner who has joined himself to the Lord speak saying, ‘The Lord has utterly separated me from his people (Israel).’” This act of separation, now known as “fourth century replacement theology” or “supersessionism,” was implemented to appeal to a pagan populace. Any Jewish elements contained in the practices of the first apostles and their converts were eroded through gradual legal restrictions, until the only alternative was to follow a style of faith that was totally devoid of Semitic traditions. The only way for followers of the true faith to survive was to convert to a Greco-Roman alternative or to go underground. As a result the religion we now call Christianity is littered with a number of non-biblical practices and observances that stemmed from this period. Naturally if this were the case, which it is, many find this to be further evidence to support the belief that Jesus Christ was borrowed from the gods of pagan religions. Many stop here and draw this inevitable conclusion. But if one continues to delve deeper more enlightening information comes to hand.

As briefly pointed out earlier, Mithraism was the previous pagan religion observed by Rome and holds many key similarities to Christianity. But by continuing to trace to a point of origin we soon find that this former belief was also an amalgamation of two previous religions that were practiced by two competing ancient civilisations. Interestingly Abraham hailed from one of these areas, which was called Sumer (In southern Iraq). This area contains the world’s earliest written pagan records. These writings parallel later scriptural themes, as do ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs, which contain records of pharaohs with comparable lives to major biblical characters. Sadly many stop here and draw their inevitable conclusion that Christianity had pagan roots. But again, if one continues to delve deeper more enlightening information becomes evident.

Early civilisations functioned without written language for a considerable time. In fact there is much evidence to show that complex structures and sizable ancient civilizations functioned quite happily without writing. During this period the first teaching, that of the “Oral Torah” of the Semitic tribes existed from the first humans. During this time massive amounts of information were completely committed to memory. This guarded against corruption, as knowledge would only be transmitted from a conscious delivery from a teacher to a trusted student. The concept of visual records was seen as vulnerable as they could be damaged, lost, misinterpreted or altered. In the Handbook of Jewish Thought (1979) by Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan, he relates: “The Oral Torah was originally meant to be transmitted by word of mouth. It was transmitted from master to student in such a manner that if the student had any questions, he would be able to ask, and thus avoid ambiguity. A written text, on the other hand, no matter how perfect, is always subject to misinterpretation.”

“Further, the Oral Torah was meant to cover the infinitude of cases, which could arise in the course of time. It could never have been written in its entirety. It is thus written (Ecclesiastes 12:12), “Of making many books there is no end.” God therefore gave Moses a set of rules through which the Torah could be applied to every possible case.”

The prophecies of Enoch, referred to in Jude 14-15, explicitly state that a fallen angel introduced written language. The motive for this past action is clear when we see the present repercussions of influencing a pagan tribe to conceive the written word. Modern day opponents to the Scriptures successfully take the bait as they parade earlier records of these counterfeit gods and religions to support the premise that they were the source of the one true faith.

Author William Crossman in his book, Last Writes: Previewing the Reasons Why Written Language Will Become Obsolete by 2050, clearly illustrates that mankind is moving back to a previous existence that no longer relies on the written word. Though I disagree with his hypothesis that early men turned to writing because they needed a way to transcend their memory limits, he does accurately describe the process and evolution of man’s relationship to writing. On the contrary, writing promoted a gradual decline on the reliance of one’s memory, which gradually spread throughout the ancient world. As a consequence the true faith had to enter into the written arena if it was going to survive.

The only solid guideline to discern the true faith and the true Messiah should be through examination of the prophetic assignments that are contained within the books that are based off the Oral Torah and the early sayings of Torah observant prophets. Choosing the earliest pictographic or cuneiform record to ascertain the true Messiah or faith without checking all the Messianic prophecies kept by the strictest record keeping nation in all history is folly. Acts 18:28 describe the Apostle Paul exclusively using the Scriptures to reason with the Jews about the credentials of Messiah. “For he vigorously refuted the Jews publicly, showing from the Scriptures that Jesus is the Christ.”