Blessed Night, Loves 😊

I Pray All Is Well With Everyone…And Your Hearts And Minds Are Full Of Love, Joy, And Compassion…For Yourselves And Everyone Else…All Over The World. And Wherever Those Higher Qualities Of Our “Mighty I AM Presence” Are Active…There Too, Is The Transformative Power Of Our Loving Energy…Radiating That Place And Space In The Universe…Where Our Love Is Being Shared! Therefore, Let Us Be Love And Share Love As Often As Possible – Even If We Sometimes May Not Feel’ It; Cuz It’s Gonna Take The Transformative Power Of Our Loving Energy – The Power Of The Living God That Dwells Within Us – To Raise The World Up Out Of Darkness…Into The Luminosity Of Divine Brilliance! Amen…

Give Thanks And Praises For Love And Life…

And Y’all Be Love…

Always do your own research…

“At the time of the life or recorded appearance of Jesus of Nazareth, and for some centuries before, the Mediterranean and neighboring world had been the scene of a vast number of pagan creeds and rituals. There were Temples without end dedicated to gods like Apollo or Dionysus among the Greeks, Hercules among the Romans, Mithra among the Persians, Adonis and Attis in Syria and Phrygia, Osiris and Isis and Horus in Egypt, Baal and Astarte among the Babylonians and Carthaginians, and so forth. Societies, large or small, united believers and the devout in the service or ceremonials connected with their respective deities, and in the creeds which they confessed concerning these deities. And an extraordinarily interesting fact, for us, is that notwithstanding great geographical distances and racial differences between the adherents of these various cults, as well as differences in the details of their services, the general outlines of their creeds and ceremonials were – if not identical – so markedly similar as we find them.

I cannot of course go at length into these different cults, but I may say roughly that of all or nearly all the deities above-mentioned, it was said and believed that: 1, they were born on or very near our Christmas Day. 2, they were born of a Virgin-Mother. 3, and in a Cave or Underground Chamber. 4, They led a life of toil for Mankind. 5, and were called by the names of Light-bringer, Healer, Mediator, Savior, Deliverer. 6, they were however vanquished by the Powers of Darkness. 7, and descended into Hell or the Underworld. 8, they rose again from the dead, and became the pioneers of mankind to the Heavenly world. 9, they founded Communions of Saints, and Churches into which disciples were received by Baptism. 10, and they were commemorated by Eucharistic meals.

…Mithra was born in a cave, on 25th December. 1, He was born of a Virgin. 2, He traveled far and wide as a teacher and illuminator of men. He slew the Bull (symbol of the gross Earth which the sunlight fructifies). His great festivals were the winter solstice and the Spring equinox (Christmas and Easter). He had twelve companions or disciples (the twelve months). He was buried in a tomb, from which however he rose again; and his resurrection was celebrated yearly with great rejoicings. He was called Savior and Mediator, and sometimes figured as a Lamb; and sacramental feasts in remembrance of him were held by his followers. This legend is apparently partly astronomical and partly vegetational; and the same may be said of the following about Osiris.

Osiris was born, Plutarch tells us, on the 361st day of the year, say, 27th December. He too, like Mithra and Dionysus, was a great traveler. As King of Egypt, he taught men civil arts, and “tamed them by music and gentleness, not by force of arms”; he was the discoverer of corn and wine. But he was betrayed by Typhon, the power of darkness, and slain and dismembered. “This happened,” says Plutarch, “on the 17th of the month Athyr, when the sun enters into the Scorpion” (the sign of the Zodiac which indicates the oncoming of Winter). His body was placed in a box, but afterwards, on the 19th, came again to life, and, as in the cults of Mithra, Dionysus, Adonis, and others, so in the cult of Osiris, an image placed in a coffin was brought out before the worshipers and saluted with glad cries of “Osiris is risen.” “His sufferings, his death and his resurrection were enacted year by year in a great mystery-play at Abydos.”

…As to Krishna, the Indian god, the points of agreement with the general divine career indicated above are too salient to be overlooked, and too numerous to be fully recorded. He also was born of a Virgin (Devaki) and in a Cave, and his birth announced by a Star. It was sought to destroy him, and for that purpose a massacre of infants was ordered. Everywhere he performed miracles, raising the dead, healing lepers, and the deaf and the blind, and championing the poor and oppressed. He had a beloved disciple, Arjuna, (cf., John) before whom he was transfigured. His death is differently related – as being shot by an arrow, or crucified on a tree. He descended into hell; and rose again from the dead, ascending into heaven in the sight of many people. He will return at the last day to be the judge of the quick and the dead.

Such are some of the legends concerning the pagan and pre-Christian deities – only briefly sketched now, in order that we may get something like a true perspective of the whole subject.

…The similarity of these ancient pagan legends and beliefs with Christian traditions was indeed so great that it excited the attention and the undisguised wrath of the early Christian fathers. They felt no doubt about the similarity, but not knowing how to explain it fell back upon the innocent theory that the Devil – in order to confound the Christians – had, centuries before, caused the pagans to adopt certain beliefs and practices! (Very crafty we may say of the Devil, but also very innocent of the Fathers to believe it!)

Justin Martyr for instance describes the institution of the Lord’s Supper as narrated in the Gospels, and then goes on to say: “Which the wicked devils have imitated in the mysteries of Mithra, commanding the same thing to be done. For, that bread and a cup of water are placed with certain incantations in the mystic rites of one who is being initiated you either know or can learn.” Tertullian also says that “the devil, by the mysteries of his idols, imitates even the main part of the divine mysteries.” . . . “He baptizes his worshippers in water and makes them believe that this purifies them from their crimes.” . . . “Mithra sets his mark on the forehead of his soldiers; he celebrates the oblation of bread; he offers an image of the resurrection, and presents at once the crown and the sword; he limits his chief priest to a single marriage; he even has his virgins and ascetics.” Cortez, too, it will be remembered, complained that the Devil had positively taught to the Mexicans the same things which God had taught to Christendom.”

Pagan & Christian Creeds: Their Origin and Meaning, By Edward Carpenter, 1920

Archetype – Anno Domini Beats