From the Pastor......
Life after Life: A look at Egyptian religion, Zeitgeist, and resurrection.
(i) Introduction
What do the young Australians of today want? They want life now and life forever. They are not the first to want this. If fact, from the ancient writings and discoveries of ancient Egypt, we learn that this is exactly what ancient civilisation craved for. Can we have life now and life after life? Is ancient Egyptian religion the key to understanding the truth of human spirituality and a doorway to life after life?
My main argument under this topic “life after life” comes from 1 Corinthians 15:20 which reads, “But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep”. This statement came from a man who spoke with eye-witnesses of the resurrection, and was visited by Jesus Christ as h travelled along the road to Damascus. This statement was made by a man who suffered beatings, imprisonment and death as he honestly proclaimed what he knew to be true.
The Egyptian records do not have a credible resurrection event, even though they believed in resurrection. There were several life-death-resurrection god-men stories but nothing that secured a hope for our resurrection, well, not until the resurrection of Jesus Christ. After the resurrection of Jesus Christ, all the mummies and burial rights began to have some real meaning – there truly was an afterlife - and this afterlife is inextricably linked to Jesus Christ.
But then along came the sceptics and doubters. Even from the very first century AD, as eye-witnesses proclaimed the good news of the resurrection and the promise of eternal life in Jesus Christ, opposition arose from Jewish rabbis, Greek philosophers and Roman rulers who scoffed at the testimony of the first Christian preachers. Many Christians died as martyrs as hatred for “the Way” of Jesus Christ gained momentum from both Jews an Romans. However, the faith endured, given the solid historical foundations that it rested on.
In was as late as AD 313 when things drastically changed, as the Emperor Constantine declared tolerance towards both Christianity and paganism. In the passing of time, Christianity grew to be the official religion of the Roman Empire, usurping other beliefs. This gave Christianity in its widest use of the term a firm leading foothold in Europe that continued unchallenged until AD 1789, when the French revolution commenced a new system of secularism. With this revolution came a new wave of sceptics and doubters who launched fresh attacks on the idea of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Along with the old arguments (like the Jesus-resurrection is a copycat story of pagan god-men resurrections), came a new anti-establishment argument.
In the spirit of revolution against monarchs and papacy, the revolutionaries saw the Jesus-story as a myth used by a powerful elite to suppress the masses by promising them “pie in the sky when they die”, only to make them submissive and enslaved to their imperial lies. This revolutionary spirit has grown and flourished throughout the Western world and finds sympathy from the Western youth of today. Sadly, this viewpoint has confused two different issues. The first issue is the glory of the resurrection of Jesus Christ and the sure promise of life after death. The second issue is the corruption of so-called Christian regimes that have caused slavery, war and poverty through godless actions. That is another issue altogether. Belief in a resurrection does not logically lead to a mentality of warfare and greed. The fruit of warfare and greed obviously come from powerful ambitions in this life, and have nothing to do with faith in a resurrection from the dead. This becomes even more pronounced when Jesus said that his kingdom was not of this world and those who live by the sword die by the sword. Therefore, the crusader concept of fighting for a better resurrection cannot be sustained either. The issue of Christian State power is a different issue to belief in a resurrection. This article is not defending Christian State power but it hopes to bring Australians back to the wonderful truth of the resurrection of Jesus Christ and make a defence against the Zeitgeist theorists who seek to distort the actual facts of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
(1) Considering the Zeitgeist theory.
I sat back in my armchair and clicked “play”. Opening up before me, was the 2007 movie Zeitgeist, made for internet viewing, and now having over 5 million viewers.
My eyes watched a compelling montage of political vices while a serious voice declared,
“The more you begin to investigate what we think we understand, where we came from, what we think we're doing, the more you begin to see we've been lied to. We've been lied to by every institution. The religious institutions of this world are at the bottom of this dirt”... “We have been misled away from the true and divine presence of the universe that men have called god. You must know the truth and seek the truth and the truth shall set you free”.
Those last words sounded familiar. I paused the movie and made this note - “if the Son shall set you free, you shall be free indeed – John 8.36”. One part of me agreed – we need Jesus Christ not religious institutions. Jesus was executed by the religious institution of his day – politics, power and prestige seduced the Judaic leaders to tell lies to the people, and the people foolishly believed them. The same folly was repeated in later centuries among those who called themselves Christians and those who called themselves Muslims. During the middle ages of Europe, what called itself the Holy Roman Empire, became a killing machine against honest citizens who simply wanted to read the Bible in their own language. Yes, time and time again, religious institutions have been at the bottom of the dirt. We need to know Jesus and Jesus, the Son of God will set us free.
Then, another part of me totally disagreed – are all religious institutions liars? What about the good things that have come out of religious institutions? Religious institutions have not been all bad. What about non-religious institutions like communism with its record slaughters of human life during the 20th century (conservatively speaking 110 million people)? We know the ridiculous lies that they told- it has been exposed in many cases. Shouldn't they be there at the bottom as well? What about fascism? What about materialism- corporate enterprises greedy for more and more wealth? We know many stories of corruption in business. What about the theory of evolution and its fruit of racial genocide? But then I thought, isn't an institution simply an organisation of humans? So the bottom line is human nature! Somehow, the Zeitgeist movie avoids this conclusion. Instead, it blames the religious institutions, mostly, the Roman Catholic Church (which is presented as if it were the whole of Christianity lock, stock and barrel).
In any case, thinking further about institutions, an institution is a necessary way of aiding co-operation among people, and that is not a bad thing. Jesus defended the family institution, the legitimate place of government institution and he instituted the church as a working organisation on earth. What would happen in a world where there were no institutions? Potentially, this would set every individual against every other individual. French philosopher Paul Michel Foucault entertained this idea. Gladly, there are institutions. Gladly, if I have an emergency health problem, I can go to a hospital, and this institution will attend to my health problem. Gladly, if I face a murderer, I can call the police and this institution will defend my citizen's rights. It is not all bad.
Back to the Zeitgeist theory – the words “divine presence of the universe” caught my attention and I braced myself for a movie that was about to turn its guns on Christianity. Sure enough, the whole focus on the movie was to regurgitate centuries of anti-Catholic and also anti-Christian arguments in a high-tech seductive way for internet viewers.
This movie was amazingly biased. It did not even try to be reasonable, but it was wholesale outrageous attack on every bit of Christianity it could get its hands on. For example, the movie actually denied that Jesus was even an historical character. Almost all historians recognise that there was an historical Jesus. They simply deny many of the recorded things that are written in the four Gospels. Even more radical, the movie took up 18th century rationalist Thomas Paine's argument that Jesus was just a myth developed from sun-worship. Consequently, there are no new shocking revelations in this movie, only a reworking of old theories, including Gerald Massey's theory (The Natural Genesis, 1856). In short, the movie is simply Theosophist propaganda. It is not a neutral “non-bias” modern research at all. Actually, it takes the theories of Massey word for word, and without any primary Egyptian sources – simply claims that Jesus-worship came from the Egyptian myth of Horus.
Now I am not an Egyptologist, but I have studied comparative religion at university (including ancient history and ancient religions). I topped this up with a number of hours of internet research on this subject and discovered great flaws in the Zeitgeist theory that Jesus is a copycat story of the Egyptian god Horus. This is a good time to quickly refute Massey's and thereby Zeitgeist's theory about Jesus being a copycat story of Horus (and Egyptian sun-god worship). In the bold type are Massey's claims and after that is my response.
Both were born of virgins on December 25. Wrong. Horus was born from Isis, who was not a virgin but the goddess-wife of the god Osiris. The birthdate of Jesus is unknown. It was the Roman Emperor Constantine, AD 360, who fixed the Winter Solstice (December 25) as a celebration date for the birth. That date was already a pagan festival, so it would not surprise us if important pagan deities were born on that date.
Both taught in a temple as a child at age 12. There is no evidence in Egyptian primary sources that Horus did this. Jesus was following Jewish Bar Mitzvah customs – hardly unique.
Both were teachers who had 12 Disciples. Again, there is no Egyptian primary source that states that Horus had 12 disciples. This idea of 12 comes from the zodiac constellation, not any Egyptian writings. Egyptologists argue about when the 12 zodiacs came into the culture, as there were possible only a two zodiacs in earliest Egyptian beliefs. It is worth noting that Egypt came up with the 365 day year, being good observers of the stars, and there are 12 moon cycles in the year. What Zeitgeist fail to realise, probably lacking a theologian in their team of editors, is that Jesus had 12 disciples as a sign that he was bringing in the new covenant, as promised by the prophet Jeremiah, because the old covenant, for the 12 tribes of Israel will now be replaced by the new covenant, founded on 12 “sent-out” apostles into all the nations, starting with Israel. The number of 12 has a Jewish background, no Egyptian.
Both were baptised in a river. Zeitgeist claims that Horus was baptised by “Anup the Baptiser”. However, Anup (the god Anubis) was an embalmer. This was a preparation for the journey of death, not a water baptism to fulfil all righteousness, like the baptism of Jesus Christ.
Both gave a sermon on the mount. Horus was the falcon god (with a falcon head) and falcons rest on mountains and cry out. Jesus is showing himself to be the fulfilment of Moses (Matthew 5:17) - giving afresh God's law to God's people from the mountain.
Both healed the sick and Horus raised El-Asar-us from the dead (Jesus raised Lazarus). People looked to the gods for healing and life. There is no figure El-Asar-Us in the Egyptian primary sources. Massey gives no footnote. Jesus performed many miracles because he had compassion on sick people and showed mercy, but also to confirm his power as the Son of God.
Both died by crucifixion and then were resurrected three days later. Crucifixion was a later Babylonian form of death-sentence and it is a lie to say that Horus died by this method. In the myth the Cippi of Horus, Horus was stung to death by a scorpion. When Isis found him dead she is said to have become “distraught and frantic with grief, and was inconsolable.” Then Thoth, who had helped her to revive her husband Osiris, heard her and came down to answer her. Isis was then supplied with incantations and then was able to revive her son to life. There is no mention of Horus' resurrection being three days later. The time frame of three days goes back to the sun-worship idea, for to the human eye, the sun rests on the horizon for three days before commencing its journey back to a height above the horizon. It is this astronomical observance that makes rationalists and theosophists claim that Christians were sun worshippers – worshipping the Son of God who rose again on the third day. Maybe God's creation is telling us to consider the resurrection of Light from the earth on the third day. The historical reality is that many eye-witnesses saw Jesus alive. They proclaimed his resurrection from the grave to thousands. Within one generation, and mainly around Jerusalem, the place of the death and resurrection, a church commenced and quickly spread throughout the Roman Empire. This is historical fact and the legacy of this is evident around the world today, as Christianity is the most influential religion on the planet. Who talks about Horus the falcon-headed god of the sky?
Zeitgeist, using the views of Dorothy Murdock (another theosophist and also goes by the name Acharya Sanning, and amazingly even has her own youtube sites to defend her theories), adds certain other claims. I will not spend any more time on this, just to say that there are no primary Egyptian sources that show a clear connection. Horus as a god, has godlike qualities and titles, and Jesus as Son of God has these same things. There is some trashy use of language suggestions that abuse both the Egyptian language and the Hebrew language, but I do not want to get into a technical linguistic argument. In short, the Gospel records of Jesus presents a unique historical account of a Jewish Rabbi who taught and healed many. He was arrested by the Jewish authorities for blasphemy, crucified by the Romans for treason, but then was worshipped as the Eternal Messiah, Son of God, by his followers, after he was seen risen from the dead. This is not Egyptian, but uniquely Christian.
What do the professional academics say? Just to let you know, of 1200 university professors in Egyptology (English, German, French) only 5 indicate that the resurrection of Jesus is a copycat of Egyptian mythology. They know, historically and academically, that the equation does not meet up and the written story of Jesus is unique and non-Egyptian in its presentation. Most of these professors would not believe the Gospel of Jesus, but that is another issue. The issue is that the claims of Zeitgeist are not matched with the historical, archaeological and academic research on the topic.
(2) Considering the death of Jesus Christ.
Was the betrayal and death of Jesus a fiction copycat-story of ancient Egyptian myths? I read several people who did not like the way we call Egyptian stories of gods “myths” and the Jesus-story history. The reason for this is simple. No-one practices ancient Egypt worship in a way that considers the Egyptian myths “history” but millions practice Christianity today in a way that considers the account of the Gospels “history”. I am one of them. For this reason, respectfully, we do not use the term myth for the Gospel records.
Let us consider Egyptian myths regarding the death of god-men. From the god of the sky (Horus) we get our term horoscope. Zeitgeist point out how Horus, while on earth as a god-man, was betrayed and this led to his death by crucifixion. Was Horus betrayed? No. He had an enemy, Typhon, and this enemy made his attack. Was he crucified? No. He was bitten by a scorpion. Some versions say that it was a snake. In any case, Horus was not betrayed by a friend/disciple. He was not arrested, mocked, whipped, tried or crucified.
The other god-man to consider is Osiris, probably one of the first Pharaohs. Osiris' brother Set played a trick on him. At a party he brought in a coffin the exact shape for Osiris, and dared everyone to try to see if they fit. No-one suited the size of the coffin, until Osiris tried. As Osiris lay in the coffin, Set shut the lid and trapped Osiris inside. Osiris was hidden in a far away land, where a tree grew over the place of his coffin. Isis, Osiris' goddess wife, searched and found the coffin and brought Osiris back to Egypt. Set found out about this, tracked down the body of Osiris and tore it into 14 pieces. Isis then went around and found all the pieces and brought Osiris back to life through magical art. Now, when you turn to the Gospels, do you read a copycat story of this? The fanciful and magical story of Osiris is nothing like the Gospel record of the betrayal, arrest, denial, torture, judgement and death of Jesus Christ.
The Zeitgeist movie also claims that the betrayal and death of Jesus has copycatted the story of Joseph – found in the book of Genesis. I think that they are getting closer to the truth because Jesus said the Scriptures were written to speak of him – so we will find themes that are fulfilled in the life and death of Jesus Christ. However, Zeitgeist does not hit the mark on this occasion. Their theory is based on the names Judah and Judas. This is like saying that records of World War II are fake- because King George VI is a copycat of St George fighting the Dragon, and we all know that St George and the Dragon is a myth! Such is the logic of Zeitgeist. In reality, there is a legend story of a George who fought a dragon and there is a later real historical event where a king named George was on the throne while a great war against fascism was being fought. In any case, the similarities between the Joseph story and the Jesus-event are not there. Joseph was sold as a slave by Judah his brother (20 pieces of silver). Jesus was handed over to authorities by disciple Judas (30 pieces of silver). But read on. Judah repents and he does a good deed at the end, wanting to take the place of his brother Benjamin. In the case of Judas Iscariot, he throws the money back to the priests and then goes and hangs himself. He is called the “Son of Perdition” and evil had taken hold of him to the end. Was Jesus' death copycatted from Joseph? No. It was a unique event. It is true that there are many events of betrayal. Betrayal happens every day. But each story is unique. Imagine if you went up to someone and said- I am divorced, and the person answers- “you're not divorced, you're just copycatting my parents who were divorced twenty years ago”. How stupid is that. The reality is that the divorce of that person's parents is a real event and so too is a later divorce by another person. Both are unique and real events, sharing a human experience common to more that two people.
At this point, I can point out how Zeitgeist refute their own theory. Earlier, they have made the claim that the Christians were sun-worshippers because the 12 disciples were the 12 constellations of the stars. So why then does one constellation betray the “sun” and then later, the other 11 constellations vote for a new constellation to follow the sun? Zeitgeist destroys its own thesis on its own internal rhetoric! It tries to say too much about everything and ends up contradicting its own theories.
Are there Egyptian pagan roots in the death of Jesus? Let us consider the death of Jesus Christ. From court cases, to floggings to crucifixion, this event was solidly historical in its presentation. All four Gospels present the same event and from four Gospels we can understand the historical event. It is like watching a news event on channel 10, 7, 9 and the ABC. Each station has its unique presentation, but each captures the same truth of the real event. Since thousands of people were arrested, tried and crucified at that time, this event would not have captured any specific attention. All the events ring true. Historical and archaeological evidence have supported the truth of the high priests Ananias and Caiaphas, the governor Pontius Pilate, and the puppet-king Herod. This is an historical event.
This event would have no significant tension for any ancient reader EXCEPT for two things that happen. Yes, there are two strange events recorded. If the story of the crucifixion was told today in the same words but applied to a prisoner in a military prison in South America – we would accept it as an historical fact- EXCEPT for two things that happen. What are these two things? (1) the midday sky turns dark and (2) there is an earthquake resulting in the curtain of the temple being torn in two. These two events are similar to ancient pagan myths. They are events that we either accept by faith, or reject by doubt as we say that scientifically daytime is not dark and earthquakes do not tear a curtain the thickness of one's hand (8 centimetres) into two. There are other philosophical positions on these events, but I do not want to digress into other areas. I want us to look at whether this means that the early Christians were sun-worshippers, copycatting Egyptian stories, or just plain deluded, or were they onto the truth that Zeitgeist is so keen to find. I will say with no shame that I believe in both events as historical and guided by God to make two points of important Divine truth. God sent the darkness and the earthquake that tore the Temple curtain in two for very good reasons. God was speaking through this action. Let us consider these two events that appear mythological. They certainly are not Egyptian stories being retold.
#darkness. This clearly shows that the early Christians were not Egyptian sun-worshippers. In Egyptian mythology, the god-man Pharaoh would die at the time of sunset. The death of the god-man would happen with the death of the sun. In the Gospels, the darkness occurs, but Jesus is still alive, hanging on the cross for another three hours. If the Pharaoh connection were obvious- Jesus would have died and then darkness would descend on the land at that moment. Zeitgeist theory does not fit. This is the middle of the day and darkness has come- this is an insult to the sun, not a worshipping of it, and if Jesus is still alive for this three hours of darkness, then why has the sun gone? Sun-worshippers would not write about their god in this way. What is the truth in this writing? What does the Old Testament say about unnatural darkness? Darkness was the sign of God's judgement. The darkness clearly shows that the God of heaven is angry and full of just revenge upon the evil that is before Him. What evil is before Him? Jesus is dying on the cross. Is God angry at the Jews or the Romans? No. They are not being punished with death. The wages of sin is death. Death is God's way of dealing with rebellion and evil in His sight. Who was dying? Jesus was dying. That's the whole point. Jesus was being punished for sin- sin was laid upon him- he was the sin-offering. At the Passover night, the angel of death killed the first-born son of Egypt and the Pharaoh - the darkness is this Passover night- Jesus hanging on the cross. He is the first-born Son of God dying to allow God's people to go free. God's people can exit Egypt and false and pagan sun-worship because Jesus Christ sets them free by his death. This is the total opposite to what Zeitgeist is suggesting. Furthermore- as a Passover sacrifice- he is the lamb killed to pay the price of life and rescue from death. The darkness does not come from Egyptian mythology- if it would- the darkness would come when Jesus died- for Jesus would be the sun-god if this event came from an Egyptian perspective. Quite the opposite, the darkness shows the reality of “atonement” - Jesus dying on the cross as a sacrifice for sin to take away the anger of God against the sins of God's people, so that they could find forgiveness and peace with God. Jesus is forsaken by God because he is carrying the sins of his people. Isaiah prophesied, “we all like sheep have gone astray, each of us to his own way, and the LORD has laid on him, the iniquity of us all” (Isaiah 53:6). That explains the darkness. God is punishing Jesus for the sins of God's people. The sins of the people are laid upon Jesus and God is angry at the sins and therefore the darkness – this is the death that kills the first born Son, exposes the needed blood-sacrifice and set God's people free.
#The earthquake causing the Temple curtain to tear in two. There is nothing Egyptian about this event. Zeitgeist theorists think that the Temple was like Egyptian temples where the sun ray would light up the holy place. But this was no so. In Jerusalem the Holy Place was lite up by a seven stemmed candle-stand with seven candles burning. The Most Holy Place was not visited by the sunlight, and neither could any person go in there. Only the High Priest would enter once a year to make a sacrifice for the sins of the nation. Again this is very symbolic, because it showed that God was Holy and could not be approached without a sacrifice for sin. God's people were sinners and they needed to bring a blood-sacrifice to the mercy seat and rely on God's mercy for the forgiveness of sins and the hope of life after death. There is no sun-worship here. Now the Temple curtain tears in two. This does not let the sunlight in- for the Temple area of the Holy Place is covered. This has nothing to do with Egyptian religion- that has been left behind by the Israelites who left that country. Rather, God is telling the world that the death of Christ has opened up a way back to God. Our word “religion” means “bind back” and it refers to a way to bring us back to God (ultimate reality). God established the Temple worship as a form of religion for the Jews to bring themselves back to God. But because humans were sinful and God was holy- they were not allowed to approach God except through the priesthood and sacrifices. The Temple curtain was the dividing wall between the Holiest Place where God manifested his glory and the Holy Place where men could walk. When Jesus died, God showed that the former way, the religion of the Temple, passed away, and now the death of Jesus Christ provided the way for sinners to approach the holy God.
Zeitgeist mocks the story of Jesus which has been called “The greatest story ever told” and declares that exposing Jesus as a myth is now the greatest story ever told. But Zeitgeist, boasting about the importance of its theory, fails to mention the two most obvious things about all people and all civilisations, and all families and all nations, and all cultures. Zeitgeist fails to tell the world that “all have sinned”. This truth is obvious. A movie that tells its audience to seek for the truth and fails to mention sin has no grasp of truth. As if we can blame all evil on some Illuminati conspiracy and some secret club of government elite who are making life miserable for us all? We all know that our lives, our families, our communities and our nation stands guilty of doing wrong. It is not just the government, or the religious institutions, it is every man, woman, boy and girl on earth. Hatred, greed, lust, and selfishness are the actions of everyone. You don't need a Bible to tell you that we are immoral and fail to live in perfect love, peace, and joy. But Zeitgeist seems to have nothing to say about this, except blame it on a government/religious institutions conspiracy. As if the government is doing everything bad in the world. This is a lie – a ridiculous lies. All have sinned – no just authorities or religious institutions. In many ways, the government and religious institutions have protected people from greater horrors. Imagine anarchy where anyone can enter your home and kill your children and steal your property. Is that the world Zeitgeist wants? The orderly running of this country has given us the ability to enjoy many aspects of life. Religious institutions have taken care of the sick, poor, mentally and physically handicapped. It is not all bad and sinister. The answer to the world's problems is not take away government and religious institutions – but take away sin. Take sin out of the government, and the religious institutions and the community.
Therefore, the first great omission of Zeitgeist is the fact that all sin. Second, all face death. Zeitgeist credit the Egyptians with inventing the idea of an afterlife and resurrection. That is laughable. All people dream of living forever in paradise and having a resurrection and an afterlife. Some then convince themselves that this is silly dreaming and give up on the idea. Other turn to religious ideas to pursue their quest for life after life.
I have turned to Jesus Christ. This is not because a government or religious conspiracy has deceived me – but because the early Christians who were persecuted by the institutions of their day, stood firm on the truth and recorded by God's inspiration these truths to writing – the New Testament.
The power of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ over the lives of millions of people of many and diverse cultures has not come about because of the lies of religious institutions or sinister government brainwashing methods. It exists because people face death- the death of ones they love and the death of themselves. They want HOPE. I would not be surprised if a third of the world worshipped Osiris to secure an afterlife. I would not be surprised if a quarter of the world worshipped Mithras in the hope of a resurrection. I would no be surprised if a fifth of the world worshipped Dionysuis in the hope of heaven's paradise. But these pagan myths have died out – but faith in Jesus continues. Is this a government plot or a secret plan of powerful wealthy brainwashing religious institutions? Consider where the growth is happening. It is not in Italy- the home of the Vatican. It is not in the USA with all its media power and wealth behind the church. The greatest growth comes in Asia and Africa among the poor and those neglected by religious institutions and governments. In China- under the power of religious institutions – the Church grew slowly – up to 2 million. Then came the communist revolution and all missionaries were kicked out. If Zeitgeist is right, then the sun-worshipping Christians should disappear- the power of lying governments and religious churches having been taken away. However, in spite of the propaganda of communism, and mass killings, Christianity grew from 2 million to over 50 million today. This is not because a religious institution has told them lies- but because the Spirit of God is moving in the witness of the name Jesus of Nazareth. “If the Son shall set you free you shall be free indeed”. The worship of Jesus Christ as the Saviour who died on the cross goes on because God's Spirit is at work. This is not ancient history- this is modern truth. What about you? Seek the truth – read the New testament for yourself – available in more languages that any other book in the world.
(3) Considering the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Generation Z lives for magic today. They are not like the old hippies who tried to escape materialism. They are trying to channel magic into their life through material things. The hippies were more set on Eastern religion- Buddhism and Hinduism. They thought about reincarnation. But the modern generation thinks about a magic life now and spiritual existence forever in mystical terms. For this reason, neo-pagan ideas from Egypt are cool, because Egyptian society was about life now and then life forever - life after life. For the wealthy Egyptians, they did not have to forfeit their life by fasting, saying long prayers, vowing to poverty, etc, but they could feel the magic of being alive in a world of the gods who made the sun shine and the waters flow. They could celebrate food, parties, art, music and culture, and then buy their way into an eternity of this pleasure-centred world. It is no wonder that these ideas have struck a chord with the youth of
The ancient Egyptians built an affluent culture, worshipped both female and male gods, gave honour to the environment, expressed self-empowerment and were guided by magic and astrology. All these things have made their way into popular Hip-Hop ideas promoted by Jay-Z, Rhianna, Beyonce and others. Jay-Z has sold about 50 million CDs worldwide, and been ranked 10th most successful artist in pop culture music. In recent years he signed up for $150 million to company Live Nation – the live music industry brings in $3.9 billion dollars annually. Through concerts, artists promote a “live the magic life today” philosophy – couched with anti-authoritarian views and messages of social justice and self-empowerment. The spirituality they promote has connections to ancient Egypt's spirituality. They are not interested in Egyptology as such, but the idea of spiritual forces, connected to the material world of sun, moon, stars, rivers, trees and soil. They are interested in a spirituality that connects then to the rhythm of nature. They are also interested in the ideas of magic, spells, charms, etc. The next generation likes the mysterious, being rooted in the environment, ideas of a life-force of positive energy and no authoritarian Law-giver God.
Think about the popular books and movies on sale in the West. In 2009, Twilight New Moon made $143 million in its first weekend at the movies. Then Harry Potter and the Deathly Harrows made $125 million. Avatar – based on pagan environmental philosophy comes in as number one grossing $1 billion dollars and being the top sales movie ever to date. Pagan ideas have resurfaced in a new “Zeitgeist” way. Vampires, Witches, and Ancient Religion are in style and cool. On one level, all this is just entertainment for people who are looking for a quick escape from their day to day lives. They watch a movie, read a book, feel good or cry or shrug their shoulders and then get on with life. On another level, it brings people to ask questions about life, faith, morality, mortality, love, hate, good and evil. The tragedy in all this is that the mass production of spirituality subjects rooted in pagan ideas, will bring a people to a pagan worldview.
Don't believe me? Let us consider the 2011 floods in Australia. The news continually reported how “mother nature” did her thing. In 2007 and 2010, Australian parliament opened to a new ceremony- an aboriginal spirituality ceremony with fire to clean away the evil spirits. The environmental movement, while having some merits in the area of protection of environment, has been steered by pagan thinking also. Why is it that the Greens Party had as their first two bills- euthanasia and homosexual marriage? What do those issues have to do with the environment? At the 2010 federal election the Greens received a four percent swing to finish with 13 percent of the vote (more than 1.6 million votes) in the Senate, a first for any Australian minor party. The Greens won a seat in each of the six states at the election, again a first for any Australian minor party, bringing the party to a total of nine Senators from July 2011, and will hold the sole balance of power in the Senate. This swing comes from younger voters. New spirituality ideas are changing the landscape of family and politics in Australia.
What does this mean for Christian belief? This means that young people will think about ethics, spirituality and afterlife in pagan terms (like ancient Egypt), not in Christian terms. Like the hippies before them, they will believe in an afterlife- but not in Christian terms. The hippies bent towards reincarnation while generation Z bend towards the eternal-self – more in line with Egyptian thought.
This trend has even altered the thinking of Christian churches in Australia. The idea of having youthful churches has led to gatherings that emphasis “Jesus only”, with no commitment to any law, command, word, creed or institution. The emphasis, to attract the youth, has become one's inner feelings. God does miracles (magic) for the believer today. The great causes are social justice, have your best life now and look forward to immortality when you die. The first mission seems to be to bring war and poverty to an end.
Were these the emphases of Jesus? No! Jesus made clear comments in the Gospels that there would always be war and poverty. Jesus called his follows to endure suffering and look to the resurrection in the age to come. While the spirit of ancient Egyptian religion does influence the world- namely, the desire for power and fame, the desire to be an all-seeing eye at the top of a pyramid (ruling over all us other bricks), Jesus said, “he who wants to be first, must be slave to all” (Mark 10:44). Jesus said, “What good is it to gain the whole world and forfeit your soul?” (Mark 8:36). The focus is on the soul going to God, not getting something good out of this present age. Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life, he who believes in Me, though he dies, yet shall he live” (John 11:25). The focus is on the life to come. Jesus never promised a world without war or poverty, nor did he establish a church based on principles of social justice, self-esteem and self-empowerment. He certainly had no interest in Egyptian sun-worship ideas, and he warned the church clearly against many things that in time it became – with an infallible father of the church (the Pope), a mother of the church (Mary) and a complex theatre show of cathedrals, processions, statues, cardinals, bishops, priests, altars, sacramental rituals, crucifixes, rosaries, chants, fasting, vows of poverty, nuns married to Jesus and prayers offered to the dead. The Zeitgeist movie has exposed many compromises that have developed in Christianity by both the Roman Catholic religion and the Eastern Orthodox faith. But these compromises do no take away the core of truth found in Jesus Christ as we read the original texts - the New Testament. This truth, by the grace of God, has lived on, in spite of the wayward church institutions and many persecutions.
Now, try selling the real deal of Christianity to the present Western generation and what do you get? They will prefer a neo-pagan spirituality. Of course they will, because the present materialistic, pleasure-seeking generation does not want to make sacrifices now on a hope of resurrection tomorrow. Like Freddy Mercury sang, “I want it all, I want it now”. They want it all, and now. Paganism promises life now (with magic power) and life in the future (mystically) which is a good win-win scenario where a person can forget about service and suffering. Jesus calls us to live out “resurrection-life”. This calls for submission and service. The Christian humbly obeys authorities, does his work dutifully, serves his family and commits himself to the pledges of church membership. It is a life of patience, humility and righteousness, with the inner strength of peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. It is a life that foregoes pleasures now, because it awaits the next life. The focus is on the resurrection from the dead and it does not make idols of riches, fame, power and glory now.
With this real practical element of resurrection-belief, you can understand why it is being rejected. It is not being rejected on matters of evidence, but on matters of lifestyle. When we have so many good things and entertainments laid out before us, why would we make a choice of sacrifice and service? Surely it is stupid to give up a life of sensual pleasures and self-gratification for a life that devotes itself to King Jesus in servanthood and holiness. So generation Z lean towards Egyptian pagan resurrection to have life now and life later. But there are others who follow Jesus Christ. Amazingly, in spite of millions of dollars of anti-Christian propaganda, many young people are still making the choice to follow Jesus in the power of his resurrection. Why? Truth matters! Jesus Christ has risen from the dead and God's Spirit is mighty to save.
The 2007 Zeitgeist movie claims that the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ was a myth based on ancient sun-worship ideas. It attempts to debunk the records of the four Gospels, but it does not tackle the issue of Paul of Tarsus. The letters of Paul are easily dated to an early period – something like AD 50-65. They are written at a time when eye-witnesses to the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ were still testifying about these events. No wonder the movie avoids Paul of Tarsus.
In 1 Corinthians 15, Paul wrote,
3 For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Cephas, and then to the Twelve. 6 After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, 8 and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born.
Our faith is not a blind faith, or an illogical leap of faith. Our faith is based on historical records and the testimony of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. While other religions follow claims and ideas about the afterlife- we follow One who has come back from the dead. Paul – not mentioned in Zeitgeist- yet he writes personal letters. Impossible to refute the passion of the historical man. You must either call Paul deluded, demonic or dedicated to the truth – Yes, indeed, Christ has risen! He is not giving us a theory, but declaring the truth to us.
Even if Osiris, Horus, Inanna, Persephone, Asclepius, Orpheus, Mithras, Krishna, Tammuz, Zalmoxis, Dionysu and Odin did come back from the dead, that would simply make Jesus the 12th resurrection account. It would not make Jesus a copycat story of the others. The resurrection of Jesus has been established on the eye-witness and message of the first Christians. It has not been established by referring to any of the previous 11 life-death-rebirth (or resurrection) deities.
Zeitgeist tries to make the Jesus-story a simple recreation of sun-god worship. It is true that ideas of resurrection came from sun-worship, but the idea of the resurrection of Jesus came from testimony. The angel said, “He is not here. He has risen”. Matthew, Mark, and Luke/Acts all affirm the resurrection. Luke commences his Gospel with the bold declaration that he has historically researched the matter and presented the whole truth and nothing but the truth. Matthew and Mark are writing in the context of the Jewish faith, wanting to be trustworthy witnesses – hardly wanting to blaspheme God's name and curse themselves. They are convinced of this truth. Then we have John, the eye-witness who also wrote three personal letters. He wrote so that we may believe and have life. Then we have Paul, already mentioned, and Peter, whose letters call for the reader to place all their hope in the resurrection.
This resurrection is unlike any of the previous resurrections. In any case, the other resurrections were not written into stories until after the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The historical telling of the rebirths or resurrections of the pagan god-men or god-women came through oral traditions and have no sound factual evidence. The ancient civilisations believed the “sun” was a god. The Egyptians worshipped the sun-god Ra (also called Khepera) and they believed that the sun-god went through a process of death and resurrection every 24 hours. Why did they think this? Well, you can do this experiment yourself. The sun rises in the morning and it is alive and shining during the whole day. Then it goes over the horizon and it is dead and gone for all the night. You can believe that the sun is locked into a cycle and simply comes and goes (Like the Hebrews – Old Testament – where the sun is a created instrument of God to give light to the earth in a pattern of night and day – sun rise and sun set) or you make the sun to be a god and it is born again every day and lives through the day and then dies in the night and is born again the next day.
The Egyptians also believed in resurrection from the scarab beetle. This came from the beetle's habit of burying itself in the ground, and re-emerging later. This was death, burial and then resurrection. Furthermore, the head of the beetle was like the sun's rays and it rolled its sphere-shaped dung-ball along the ground, a motion like the sun across the sky. The beetle became a sign and symbol for immortality and resurrection, and for this reason amulets of the scarab beetle were placed on mummies.
The account of the resurrection of Jesus Christ has not mimicked any of the previous life-death-resurrection stories. The resurrection of Jesus Christ explains historical detail of a Jewish burial, a Roman practice of guarding the tomb, the women coming to anoint the body, and the disciples being visited by Jesus on several occasions in several locations, ruling out hallucinations. There are “supernatural” elements – Jesus being physically alive again after death, the angels who declared that Jesus has risen, the ability of the body of Jesus to enter a locked room, and Jesus orchestrating another miraculous catch of fish when he met the disciples at the sea of Tiberius (Galilee). To be sure, the resurrection account must be received by faith, and by the hearing of the Word, and not by sight. 2 Corinthians 5:7 states - “We walk by faith, and not by sight”. But this faith is upon a real even and a real promise. The writers and preachers of the resurrection were proclaiming a real historical event and they were not seeking to retell a sun-god resurrection myth.
This requires us all to make a choice. Yes, we need to decide who to believe and who to follow. 1 Corinthians 15:20 declares to us that yes, indeed Christ has risen. The test of time has given weight to its truth as over one billion people today affiliate with Christianity, but Mithras, Osiris and the others have been long dismissed as myths. Jesus Christ is the only resurrection account that is a contender for the truth. Jesus Christ presents a unique Gospel that calls for a choice to trust in him, and not in any other. He is the unique “Way”.
Let me give an example. You have a computer and it requires a code word. The password code is rejected if you get one number wrong. If you get one number wrong, you cannot get into the system. The code is 756263. You type 756262. You were close – you had 5 numbers correct. Still, the code fails. You need to get the code right. Jesus said, “he who is not for me is against me” (Matthew 12:30). It is not good enough to have spirituality, some morals, and a belief in resurrection. Egyptian spirituality does not hit the code. Jesus said, “For God so loved the world, that He gave his only Son that whosoever believes in Him, shall not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16). You need to get that code right. It cannot be just a spirituality that believes in the afterlife- it must be faith in Jesus Christ and the power of His resurrection. Do you have the code right? This is the only accepted password to resurrection to eternal paradise - JESUS CHRIST!
Let me finish off by giving a testimony of the power of the written Word about the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Dr. E. V. Rieu was a classical scholar and translator for many years. He rendered Homer into very modern English for the Penguin Classics. Rieu was sixty years old and a life-long agnostic when the same firm invited him to translate the Gospels. His son remarked: "It will be interesting to see what Father makes of the four Gospels. It will be even more interesting to see what the four Gospels make of Father." The answer was soon forthcoming. A year later, Rieu, convinced and converted, joined the Church of England. In an interview with J. B. Phillips, Rieu confessed that he had undertaken the task of translation because of an "intense desire to satisfy himself as to the authenticity and spiritual content of the Gospels." He was determined to approach the documents as if they were newly discovered Greek manuscripts,. "Did you not get the feeling," asked Canon Phillips, "that the whole material was extraordinarily alive?" The classical scholar agreed. "I got the deepest feeling," he replied. "My work changed me. I came to the conclusion that these words bear the seal of the Son of Man and God."
What about you? It's time to seek the truth and find Jesus – if the Son shall set you free, you shall be free indeed. Amen.
Natural Disasters
How do we explain them?
The best way is to use the terminology that Australians know. The term we use is ACT OF GOD.
ISAIAH 45:5-7
“I am the LORD and there is no other; apart from me there is no God. I will strengthen you though you have not acknowledged me, so that from the rising of the sun to the place of its setting men may know there is none besides me. I am the LORD, and there is no other. I form the light and create darkness, I bring prosperity and create disaster; I, the LORD, do all these things”.
ACT OF GOD – is a term used in legal proceedings and in insurance matters.
Act of God - An event or occurrence due to natural causes which occurs independently of human intervention and either could not be foreseen, or if foreseen, could not be reasonably guarded against. (e.g. storm, flood, earthquake, cyclone).
Now, regarding legal cases, certain damages and deaths happen as an ACT OF GOD. The flash flooding sweeps over a house and without warning residents of Grantham are swept away in flood waters. In this case, no one can sue the council or the neighbour for what has happened. It has been an ACT OF GOD.
Negligence is failure to take reasonable care to avoid foreseeable harm to other people or their property. Now, just as the legal system also recognises “negligence”, so too the Bible recognises that disasters and damage are caused by an “act of God” but there are also secondary causes - “human negligence”.
For example, a violent storm sweeps through a suburb and a large old tree falls onto the neighbour's roof, killing a person in the room. Was this an act of God? YES. God brought in the large storm. Was it negligence? YES. One year earlier the owner of the tree was told to cut the tree down because it had a disease and would fall easily when high winds came through. He failed to do this, and so he has been shown to be negligent on his instructions to chop the tree down one year earlier.
When we explain this flood, we simply say the truth – this is an act of God.
Psalm 29:10 - “The LORD sits enthroned over the flood”. What does that mean? God is in control of the weather. God commands the winds to blow and the waters to roll over the land. God decrees that the volcano will explode and the earth will shake. God determines the rainfall and the sends the hail and ice and snow.
But some people insist that while this may be true- ACT OF GOD - when people are suffering, we need to come up with something more kind and pastoral. Say something like “isn't mother nature a mystery”. Well, Job has lost his children to a violent wind, and he had lost his health and wealth, and he was sitting on a garbage pile in incredible suffering and pain, and God arrives in a storm (ACT OF GOD) and says this to him-
“Have you entered the storehouses of the snow or seen the storehouses of the hail, which I reserve for times of trouble, for days of war and battle? What is the way to the place where the lightning is dispersed, or the place where the east winds are scattered over the earth? Who cuts a channel for the torrents of rain, and a path for the thunderstorm, to water a land where no man lives, a desert with no one in it, to satisfy a desolate wasteland and make it sprout with grass? Does the rain have a father? Who fathers the drops of dew?”
Job 38:23-28
God tells this suffering man who has lost everything- storms, hail and rainfall are an ACT OF GOD. Note how God describes himself as the father of the rain. Next time it rains, think of that- God is in control of every raindrop. Jesus made this comment, “He (the Heavenly Father) causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous” (Matthew 5:45).
Note the verbs- causes- God causes – he is the first cause of all natural events. And “sends” God does not gamble on where rain will go- he is the Gardener of the World. He is the Sustainer of all Life.
WRONG IDEA
HUMAN NATURE VS MOTHER NATURE. “Volunteers help in battle against nature” - headlines in Westside News. Add- Human nature verse mother nature. And the courier mail report - “Mother nature has released something shocking on the Toowoomba region” (10 January, 2011) and “When mother nature strikes back” (12, January, 2011). Such language was used continually on TV and radio. Our media and the general public taking these reports in and commenting, are infecting with something worse that melioidosis (disease now found in muddy river), it is an evolutionary worldview of humanity and nature having a fight to the death. Atheists enjoy the comments, God is forgotten and removed, and MOTHER NATURE becomes something that can be overcome in the long run. MOTHER NATURE has several things that we like about her – (1) she gives us life with her obvious powers (2) when she challenges our life, we can fight her and to an extent win back what she has taken and (3) she is not a JUDGE of our character, and so we can go on setting our own standards and rules. This view is the power-game where we humans want to be on top. But I hope that you can all realise how completely pessimistic this viewpoint ultimately is. The core theme of the story of the evolutionary worldview is that we are an accident which will definitely die out in extinction and all our thoughts and dreams are meaningless and futile. Of course, the greater forces of the universe will win. We are without hope in the evolutionary worldview. Ultimately MOTHER NATURE and OURSELVES become NOTHING. Amazingly, in spite of the fact that the evolutionary worldview is completely pessimistic, amoral, and full of obvious lies – we still use this language when facing this natural disaster of floods. Then, there is the view that MOTHER NATURE is a personality that needs APPEASEMENT. MOTHER NATURE becomes she. But we all know that rocks and water are not a united personality. Still, people speak as if MOTHER NATURE needs to correct our errrs. ''There's very little doubt that the burning of fossil fuels is responsible for the hottest oceans we've ever seen off Australia, which in turn the scientists are saying very clearly is responsible for the quite extraordinary and harrowing floods that we've seen,'' Senator Brown said. He then said that the Coal Industry should pay the damages bill for causing the problem. MOTHER NATURE RULES – and we must offer our service and sacrifices to make MOTHER NATURE happy. This is wrong- “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth”. God rules and we need to seek how we make God happy. What is actually happening, is that God is asserting His sovereignty and we are looking at reality- we are the creature and God is the controller who is above us. This then leads to the next question- if God is in control, why doesn't he control nature so that it does not hurt us!
QUESTION: Why doesn't God keep natural calm?
ANSWER: WE ARE OUT OF EDEN.
Can't we all live in harmony? God had made a covenant with humanity and this covenant has been broken. We are out of Eden. Eden was a paradise where an innocent and good relationship existed between Adam and Eve and God. This relationship was broken because of sin. The breaking of this covenant is still obvious to this day. God said to Adam - “you are free to eat from any fruit in the garden. But you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it, you will surely die”.
This agreement was broken, and the covenant is still broken and we all must die. Romans 5:12 “sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned”. Do you know that verse off by heart- it is a very important verse to have the right way of thinking and to explain our faith to others and.
Now there is another verse that is very important – Romans 6:23 – For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord”.
WAGES OF SIN IS DEATH.
Life eternal in paradise has been denied to us because of the broken covenant. In Genesis, we are told that the earth produced thorns only after the fall into sin. Work and childbirth come with pain. Basically, harmony has been lost, and the more we sin, the more we make a mess of life before God. The Bible informs us that the whole world is under condemnation and after death comes judgement. Therefore, we are not surprised when God's prophets declared natural disasters and times of shaking up society upon the communities of humanity. These “shake ups” tell people that the relationship has been broken.
Furthermore, God has made an agreement, a contract with the whole planet to bring about a new heavens and a new earth. This agreement underlines everything that happens in nature today.
Genesis 9:8-11 states, "Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him: “I now establish my covenant with you and with your descendants after you and with every living creature that was with you—the birds, the livestock and all the wild animals, all those that came out of the ark with you—every living creature on earth. I establish my covenant with you: Never again will all life be destroyed by the waters of a flood; never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth.”
God will preserve the earth until the day comes when he will bring in the new earth. 2 Peter 3:10 then tells us- “But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare (burned up)”.
God has made a promise regarding the earth. Life is not “all about you” nor is it “all about me”. Life can go on without us. What God is doing is far greater than our thoughts or efforts. Isaiah tells us that God's ways are higher than our ways and His thoughts are higher than our thoughts.
Natural disasters happen as God does not destroy the whole earth. If there were no earthquakes or volcanoes- how would the plates under the earth's surface move and the heat of the earth's crust be released. Imagine the heat building up or the plates not moving- this earth could blow up if God does not do his maintenance work. Imagine if the heat off the oceans does not result in cyclones and storms and massive rainfalls- the oceans heat up to a point where everything begins to die. God has made a covenant with nature and he will fulfil it to the end. God gardens the earth and holds it all together. If he needs to move a few plates in the earth's core to keep everything working properly, he does this. If energy needs to be released from the earth's crust and therefore, the tsumani happened as a result of the preservation work of God – keeping energy levels and plates in the right place underneath us – then it happens.
Romans 8:22 tells us that the creation groans for the coming of the Lord Jesus C