Demythifying God

Monday, December 15, 2025

Was Josephus the Historical Jesus and Paul?

Flavius Josephus (Whiston, 1737 [1851 edition]):

Abide With Me by Simon Dewey:

St. Paul the Apostle (19th-20th century A.D.) by Friedrich Stummel and Karl Wenzel (Encyclopaedia Britannica. Saint Paul’s Contributions to the New Testament):

I have already written a post trying to find the historical Jesus. However, I made this new post to focus on one person who seems to have been the main historical template for Jesus: Flavius Josephus. Not only was Josephus the historical template for Jesus, but he was also Saul/Paul. Check out my "Was Jesus Christ Real?" post for more information, but I will add more info. to this post over time.

Links:
Whiston (1737 [1851 edition]):
https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Complete_Works_of_Flavius_Josephus_T/Z1eDk09sNoIC?hl=en&gbpv=1
Altus. Abide With Me by Simon Dewey:
https://altusfineart.com/products/simon-dewey-abide-with-me-jesus-with-open-arms
Encyclopaedia Britannica. Saint Paul’s Contributions to the New Testament:
https://www.britannica.com/list/st-pauls-contributions-to-the-new-testament
-Pic:
https://images.app.goo.gl/yqTyWMGvVm3mogG88
Was Jesus Christ Real?
https://demythifyinggod.blogspot.com/2019/07/jesus-christ-wasis-real.html

1.) The Comparisons:
I've heard of Josephus for a while now. Initially, I just used him as a source to support Jesus Christ as a historical entity. Later on, I found out that those passages on Jesus in Josephus' works where Christian forgeries. Then, I thought that the Egyptian was Jesus. However, the Jesus character seems to have been a conglomerate of different historical personas. Notwithstanding this, a part of me was determined to find a single historical figure that could've been the main inspiration for Jesus. Saul/Paul later became a point of contention. While investigating Paul, the two figures, Jesus and Paul, started to become blurred. I became convinced that Saul/Paul was a composite character as well, and could've been another persona for Jesus! After re-reading Josephus' works, and reading and watching other stuff regarding Josephus himself, an idea formed in my head: was Josephus the historical template for Jesus and Paul? After learning about Josephus' life, it seems that the surprising answer to said question is yes!

In his autobiography, The Life of Flavius Josephus, Josephus said that he descended from the Jewish priesthood. His mother was of royal blood, and is descended from the family of Asamoneus. His popular father, and his brother, were named Matthias (Matthew). Josephus had three sons, and curiously enough, they seem to have had Hasmonean and Herodian names: Hyrcanus, Justus, and Agrippa ([Whiston, 1737 translation] Verses 1-2). Josephus was a smart child. At around 14, he received accolades from “High Priests and principle men of the city.” He said that they even came to him to properly understand “the law.” At 16, Josephus joined the Pharisees, Sadducees, and Essenes. He was also a student of a man named Banus, a desert teacher, for three years (53-56 A.D). Banus "used no other clothing than" what "grew upon trees." He also "had no other food than what grew of its own accord." He also took cold baths to maintain "his chastity." Josephus did all of these things as well. Finally, at 19 years of age, Josephus joined the Pharisees again (Verse 2). From what I can tell, "Asamoneus" seems to be Asamonaius, a version of the name Hasmonean (Encyclopaedia Britannica, Hasmonean dynasty, para. 1). Therefore, Josephus descended from the Jewish priesthood and the Hasmoneans. The Herodians married into the Hasmonean family (Encyclopaedia Britannica, Herod, King of Palestine, para. 1), so Josephus would've been related to the Herodians.

Let's compare this information to Jesus' story. I'll stick with the Gospels of Matthew and Luke mainly, since I believe those two gospels were the earliest ones (originally Gospel according to the Hebrews, and Gospel of the Lord):

1.) The Talmud Jesus has been stated to have been a Hasmonean. This is stated in my "Was Jesus Christ Real?" post. Josephus was Hasmonean.
2.) At the age of 12, Jesus amazed the Jewish teachers at the Jerusalem Temple (Luke 2:41-51). At 14, Josephus was well-renowned for his knowledge by the Jewish teachers.
3.) Banus sounds similar to John the Baptist. John ate "locusts and wild honey," and he "came preaching into the wilderness of Judea," (Matthew 3:4). Jesus was also baptized by John at the Jordan River (Matthew 3:13-17). I know that baptism is an initiation ritual, but the comparison is close enough. The baptism ritual most likely came from the Essenes. I stated this in my "Was Jesus Christ Real?" post.
4.) Jesus was called "Rabbi" (Matthew 26:25 and 49). This word was used to describe the Pharisees (Got Questions, What is a Jewish rabbi, para. 2) (Hamman, 2018, The Pharisees, para. 2), which means that Jesus was probably a Pharisee. Josephus was a Pharisee.
5.) Jesus taught Essene-like beliefs, wore similar clothing, and his followers used terminology found in the Dead Sea Scrolls. Check out my "Was Jesus Christ Real?" post for more info. on that. Josephus joined the Essenes, and wrote about them.

Now, we'll turn to Saul/Paul:

1.) Paul was a Pharisee (Acts 26:4-5), just like Josephus.
2.) Paul had Herodian family members. One was a man named Herodion (Romans 16:11). Josephus, being a Hasmonean, would've been related to the Herodians.

Josephus later stated that, while on his way to Rome to help some Jewish priest he knew that were arrested by the Romans, Josephus’ boat “drowned in the Adriatick sea.” A Cyrenian ship rescued him, and a few others that managed to survive. There were 600 originally, but only 80 survived the shipwreck (The Life of Flavius Josephus [Whiston, 1737 translation], Verse 3).

As for Paul:

3.) After his trial for causing a disturbance in Jerusalem, Paul was led prisoner to Rome. When the prison boat reached the Adriatic Sea, the ship struck a reef and sank. Paul, and a few others, survived (Acts 27:1, 27, and 41).

Josephus described himself a pacifist who tried to get the Jews to not fight the Romans. Unfortunately, his efforts were in vain. In fact, he and his fellow Pharisees pretended to side with the Jewish "robbers" (rebels) in order to not suffer their wrath (The Life of Flavius Josephus [Whiston, 1737 translation], Verses 4-5). Josephus, and a few other priests, were sent to Galilee to get the Jewish rebels to surrender (Verses 7-8, and 12). After some time there, Josephus got on the bad side of some Jewish men from Dabaritta. They raided the carriages of Ptolemy's wife, and took the spoils back to Josephus. Now, Josephus tried to convince the men to not disperse the plunder, but this is not what the robbers wanted. In return, they spread a rumor that Josephus was going to make the Galileans surrender to the Romans (Verse 26). As a result, Jesus son of Sapphias led a group of Galileans against Josephus (Verse 27). Josephus explained himself, and seems to have pacified some of the hostility (Verse 29). However, not all of the Galileans were swayed and continued to try and attack him (Verses 30-31). Encyclopaedia Britannica paints a slightly different picture of Josephus. It seems that Josephus' depiction of himself during this time might be untrustworthy, and Josephus was actually a soldier who fought against the Romans (Encyclopaedia Britannica, Poole, 2025, Flavius Josephus, Military career).

Compared to Jesus:

4.) Jesus was rejected by Capernaum and Nazareth, two cities in Galilee (Matthew 11:23) (Luke 4:14-30).
5.) Jesus was depicted as a pacifist (Matthew 5:1-11, and 21-48) (Matthew 26:51-54) (Luke 6:20-23, and 27-36) (Luke 22:51).
6.) However, Jesus also had Zealot-like characteristics (Matthew 10:34-38) (Matthew 21:12-13) (Matthew 26:55-56) (Luke 19:45-46) (Luke 22:35-38). Even his own disciples had weapons, and zealous-like behavior (Matthew 26:51) (Luke 22:35-38, and 49-50).

As for Paul:

4.) Paul, as Saul, persecuted the Christians while working for the Jewish authorities (Acts 22:3-5) (Acts 26:4-11). Later on, he joined the Christians (Acts 22:6-21) (Acts 26:12-18). The Romans protected Paul from the Jews (Acts 21:27-40).
5.) Long after his conversion, Paul was assaulted by the Jews at the Jerusalem Temple. Paul tried to pacify them (Acts 21:27-40) (Acts 22:1-22).

In The Jewish War, it seems that Vespasian sent Josephus’ friend, Nicanor, to Josephus to force him to surrender. Josephus' allies tried to commit suicide, but Josephus stopped them from doing so. He also tried to get his compatriots to disarm themselves. On the other hand, Josephus seems to have made the idea to cast lots. This would make one person kill the other, instead of committing suicide. Fortunately, they didn’t seem to go through with the deed. Afterwards, Nicanor sent Josephus to Vespasian. While in his presence, Josephus proclaimed that Vespasian will be emperor ([Whiston, 1737 translation], Book 3 Ch. 8. Verses 2, 6-9). Josephus is described here as "a prophet" (Encyclopaedia Britannica, Poole, 2025, Flavius Josephus, Military career, para. 3).

In comparison to Jesus:

7.) Jesus' disciple, Judas Iscariot, betrayed him to the Jewish and Roman authorities (Matthew 26:47-56).
8.) Jesus was called a prophet (Matthew 21:11).

Compared to Paul:
6.) Paul had a vision of Jesus on his way to Damascus (Acts 22:6-21) (Acts 26:12-18).

Josephus was a prisoner for a while. After Vespasian was made emperor, Josephus was released. He became a Flavian, and worked with the Romans to end the war. He was "hated by the Jews," yet "distrusted by the Romans" for being a Jew." (Encyclopaedia Britannica, Poole, 2025, Flavius Josephus, Military career, para. 3). He later obtained a Roman citizenship (Josephus as historian, para. 2).

Compared to Jesus:

9.) Jesus was taken prisoner (Matthew 26:47-67) (Matthew 27:11-26).

Compared to Paul:

7.) Paul was taken prisoner by the Romans (Acts 21:27-40) (Acts 22:22-29).
8.) He had a Roman citizenship. This is why the Romans protected Paul (Acts 21:27-40) (Acts 22:22-29).

2.) Conclusions:
In summation, Josephus bears many similarities to Jesus and Paul. As far as I'm concerned, the historical persona for Jesus and Paul is Josephus. We know that the New Testament used Josephus' works as sources (check my "Was Jesus Christ Real?" post), so it's not hard for me to hypothesize that the authors used Josephus himself as a historical template for Jesus Christ. Perhaps Josephus was the author of the gospels himself? Either way, Josephus and his works seem to have been the sources for the gospels.

Thursday, July 24, 2025

Are Human Beings God?

The Geometry of Eternal Creation by Jonathan Earl Bowser:

Finally, we get to talk about something a bit more positive. All of the posts on this blog so far have been about trying to find God. For years now, I've transitioned from trying to prove Christianity true to realizing that it's not all that it seemed. I've had to come to the conclusion that the god of the Bible, his son Jesus Christ, and every god of other religions, are not real. Despite this, I never gave up on trying to find the divine. Something in me kept me on the search to find God, or the Creator or Source. I have found some sources that point me to an answer: Us. Human beings are not only divine, but are God. In technical terms, males are God and females are the Goddess. When we act in a negative way, we become the Devil or a Demon/Demoness.

Link:
Geometry of Eternal Creation by Jonathon Bowser:
https://www.jonathonart.com/goec.html

1.) Our Imagination is God.
In my "Did Human Beings Invent God?" post, I came to the conclusion that human beings created the gods of our religions. We used various objects, and animals, as symbols in order to anthropomorphize the divine. In particular, the deities that we created are called egregores. Egregores are thought forms created by the minds of multiple like-minded individuals. The egregore/deity is suppose to protect its creators, and the people satisfied the egregore/god in return in various ways. This included sacrifices. This means that human beings created the gods of our pantheons, but there's more to this than that. Our imagination created the gods, therefore our imagination is God. This led me to manifestation. I remember when the book The Secret by Rhonda Byrne was everywhere when I was younger. I saw the documentary back in 2024, and it made me go on a quest to learn more.

Neville Goddard (Wikipedia):

I ended up finding a man named Neville Goddard. I've found a lot of his lectures online, but the foundation of his teachings is that our imagination is god and reality itself. He also used the Bible in a metaphorical sense to explain that the Christian god, and Jesus Christ, are the human imagination (Goddard, 1999, p. 11 ["Test Yourselves" lecture]). I'll stick with the Christian god and Jesus Christ being egregores, but I understand what he means. There are some passages in the Bible that seem to hint at the imagination/our thoughts create reality, but that's a topic for later. I also believe in Goddard's teachings because... I tried it, and it works! I still need to practice it more, but the technique (called manifestation) does work. It requires thinking about your goal, and already imagining that you have what you want. I would also like to emphasize having a strong emotional attachment to your goal as well. From my experience, it helps a lot! Writing your goal out on a piece of paper also helps. Keep it with you as much as possible. Like any tool, be sure to use your imagination carefully, wisely, and for positivity.

Another recommendation is It Works! The Famous Little Red Book That Makes Your Dreams Come True (1926) by R. H. Jarret. It's genuinely short and you can find a 15- or 20-minute audio version online for free, but it does work.

Links:
Did Human Beings Invent God?
https://demythifyinggod.blogspot.com/2025/07/did-human-beings-invent-god.html
Rhonda Byrne. The Secret. 2006:
https://books.google.com/books?id=z9Q99X-OOtAC&printsec=frontcover&dq=the+secret&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjxl6DbiteOAxWNN1kFHZ_2Kt0Q6AF6BAgFEAM#v=onepage&q=the%20secret&f=false
Neville Goddard from Wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neville_Goddard
-Pic:
https://images.app.goo.gl/Bj3tfRUdGfiqkVax5
Neville Goddard. Immortal Man: A Compilation of Lectures. 1999:
https://archive.org/details/immortalmancompi0000nevi/page/10/mode/2up?q=immortal+man
R. H. Jarret. It Works! The Famous Little Red Book That Makes Your Dreams Come True. 1926:
https://archive.org/details/RHJarrett/page/n9/mode/2up

2.) Our Spirit is God and the Soul is the Goddess.
Meet Your Soul (2015) by Elisa Romeo:

Aside from our imagination, the spirit and the soul are also divine. In fact, the spirit is male/God and the soul is female/Goddess. According to Romeo (2015), the "Soul has historically been associated with the feminine [...] And Spirit often represents and is characterized as the masculine." The feminine is also "the great archetypal feminine to which both men and women have access." In China, the soul/feminine is represented as yin and the masculine/spirit is yang (p. 13 [Ch. 2]). The spirit and soul help each other, and also keep each other in-check (p. 14 [Ch. 2]). Regarding our imagination, Romeo stated that "Your imagination is your greatest tool in your efforts to connect with the Soul." The "Imagination is the plane where we meet and engage with the invisibles-the very real but often unseen spirits, thought forms, collective energies, energetic information, and records that are always available to us," (p. 43 [Ch. 7]). In order to contact the soul, we need to use our imaginations (pp. 44-45, and 51-52 [Ch. 7]). Romeo gave an experience that she had while meditating. Usually, I ignore these but what she stated actually makes sense. During meditation, Romeo's soul gave her the image of an "upside-down (inverted) triangle." This inverted triangle "is the symbol of the Divine feminine," (p. 51 [Ch. 7]). Chwalkowski (2016) said that the "inverted triangle [...] is one of the most ancient symbols of female divinity as a representation of the genitalia of the goddess," (p. 99).

According to Rudolf Steiner, “The human soul is the connecting link between the human spirit, and the human body.” The spirit is the center of the human being, and it observes the physical world with our bodies. The soul “mediates between the two,” (Steiner, 1961 [1994 edition], p. 109 [The Three Worlds, II. The Soul in the Soul World after Death]). With regards to thoughts, Steiner said that "A thought forms in the spirit, and the soul “converts” it into a wish that is brought “into being.” The body turns the wish into “an accomplished deed” (p. 110 [The Three Worlds, II. The Soul in the Soul World after Death]). Steiner also stated that "'the human soul as the mother of the god, leading human beings unconsciously and with the inevitability of a natural force to their union with the divine.'" The "'power that is active unconsciously in the soul'" is personified in "The woman'" (Steiner, 2001, p. 6).

From what I can tell, the spirit is masculine and the soul is feminine. Both work together to bring our thoughts into reality by using our bodies, and we contact the soul through our imagination. I would go further and say that the spirit is God, and our soul is the Goddess. This is backed up by Romero (2015) and Chwalkowski (2016) .

Links:
Elisa Romeo. Meet Your Soul. 2015:
https://books.google.com/books?id=pjBNCgAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=dating+your+soul&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&source=gb_mobile_search&ovdme=1&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjj1Zf7kO-CAxVfE1kFHeWiBhQ4HhDoAXoECAsQAw#v=onepage&q=dating%20your%20soul&f=false
-V2:
https://books.google.com/books?id=y176DwAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=Meet+your+soul&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&source=gb_mobile_search&ovdme=1&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwi8jaj8_JmDAxXMGVkFHfzcCT8Q6AF6BAgJEAM#v=onepage&q=Meet%20your%20soul&f=false
Rudolf Steiner. Theosophy. 1961 (1994 edition):
https://www.theosophy.world/sites/default/files/ebooks/theosophy.pdf
-V2:
https://rsarchive.org/Books/GA009/English/AP1971/GA009_index.html
Rudolf Steiner. The Goddess: From Natura to Divine Sophia. 2001:
https://books.google.com/books?id=ASBFDwAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=the+soul+and+the+goddess&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&source=gb_mobile_search&ovdme=1&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjqkrOMl_mCAxUcKlkFHZT3DdwQ6AF6BAgEEAM#v=onepage&q=the%20soul%20and%20the%20goddess&f=false
Chwalkowski (2016) (P. 99):
https://books.google.com/books?id=W-22DQAAQBAJ&pg=PA99&dq=Goddess+symbol+upside+down+triangle&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&source=gb_mobile_search&ovdme=1&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjlmeOjxbCEAxXuD1kFHbjxDkcQ6AF6BAgOEAM#v=onepage&q=Goddess%20symbol%20upside%20down%20triangle&f=false

3.) Other Recommendations.
In this section, I will give you more sources that will help to explain that mankind is divine.

1.) The Ultimate Deceit of the Human Race: The Ezzrath Theory (2001) by Ezzrath Baht Shem:
Front cover:

I found this book a little while ago. Shem (2001) is about the author going through deconstruction of their faith, and trying to make sense of the god of the Bible, other deities of other religions, and how the history of humanity fits in with all of this. One key aspect of Shem's book is a chart they made on p. 380 called the "Ultimate Universal Timeline." It said that human beings are God made out of "karmic consciousness" that "at some point collected itself forming the tiniest piece of a particle unimaginable to humans with their microscopes." The Big Bang was caused by us/God when we thought the universe into existence. Our "karmic energies divide" us/God "into two (yin/yang)." Shem then states that Jehovah (Ea/Ieue) is a physical creation created by us/God, but became a god/"SLAVE MASTER, of the human race." Aside from Ea/Ieue being a physical person, I do agree with Shem that we are the real Creator and that we created the universe and the gods of our religions.

Shem's "Ultimate Universal Timeline" chart (Shem, 2001, p. 380):

The chart goes on until p. 382. It goes to explain how the false gods of our religions affected mankind, but I do not think that part is necessary. The chart on p. 380 matches information already stated in this post. I should note that, on p. 2, Shem said that God is "within" us, and "that we are truly one with God." We also created "the hells [...] for ourselves."

I believe that Shem (2001) is right about us being God, and that we created the universe.

Link:
Ezzrath Baht Shem. The Ultimate Deceit of the Human Race: The Ezzrath Theory. 2001. P. 380:
https://books.google.com/books?id=jnu3-9eolT4C&pg=PA376&dq=Marduk+Osiris&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&source=gb_mobile_search&ovdme=1&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjpkc_st6-IAxXcF1kFHdloKo4Q6AF6BAgIEAM#v=onepage&q=Marduk%20Osiris&f=false

2.) William Donahue teaches that the Bible is a mystical book, not a literal one. In one of his recorded lectures, "379 The Force Within You," he said that everything has God in it. This includes you, and other animals (11:10-11:33). He also stated that Jesus taught that the kingdom of Heaven is inside man (11:34-15:23). Donahue then explained the mystical side of Jesus' teachings, like the pineal gland, zodiac, etc. I have to look into that later because he's not the only person to talk about the pineal gland. We already know that the zodiac is associated with religion. Check my "The Demon Deity Unveiled," and "My List of Gods and Goddesses," posts for more information. The main point is that Donahue stated that mankind is divine.

Links:
William Donahue. "379 The Force Within You." YouTube:
https://youtu.be/NaQqWZ5yn9M?si=rhpojL0rZeu4UNyg
The Demonic Deity Unveiled:
https://demythifyinggod.blogspot.com/2022/10/was-yhwh-yahwehjehovah-angel.html
My List of Gods and Goddesses:
https://demythifyinggod.blogspot.com/2024/12/my-list-of-gods-and-goddesses.html

4.) Conclusions.
Human beings are god. To be more precise, man/spirit is God and woman/soul is the Goddess. Our imagination is our superpower, and our spirit and soul work together to make our thoughts become reality. This is how our universe was created. This can also be seen in the egregores/deities that we created in our religions. Manifestation is another example.

Saturday, July 19, 2025

Does Heaven and Hell Exist?

Heaven and Hell. Retrieved from Hilles (2024):

Recently, we discovered that the "God" of the Bible and Satan/Devil were the same person. This leads us to the topic of this current post: Do Heaven and Hell exist? Surprisingly, Heaven is easier to explain than Hell but we shall discuss both topics here.

Links:
Heaven and Hell. Retrieved from Hilles (2024):
https://images.app.goo.gl/J8BiWZuzoWfoRV53A
Hilles (2024):
https://www.bcworldview.org/hell-will-be-hell-and-heaven-will-be-heven/

1.) Does Heaven Exist?
Clouds obscure a gate (Getty Images) from Almond (2018):

Let's discuss Heaven first. We all tend to think that Heaven is another world, or dimension, outside of ours. Actually, I've heard people discuss it as a place in outer space. Anyway, Heaven is suppose to be the home of the god of the Bible, Ieue/Ea/Zeus, and his son Jesus Christ. However, when you look for Heaven in the Bible, things get complicated. In the Tanakh/Old Testament, Heaven is called Shmin (pronounced "Sh-min")/Shamayin or Samayin. However, this just means Earth's sky (Genesis 1:8 [NASB] [Interlinear]) (Bible Hub, Strong's Hebrew: 8064. Shamayin). It also seems to mean "the higher ether where the celestial bodies revolve," (Bible Hub, Strong's Hebrew: 8064. Shamayin, Lexical Summary). This seems to be space, if you ask me. The heavenly bodies are the planets (Mackenzie, 1915, p. 304), and their astrological symbols (Cook, 1914, Vol. 1 p. 235 note 2). So far, Heaven is a place on Earth or surrounding Earth: The sky and space. It's not another dimension, or a place beyond space. In fact, Shmin is a deity. He is called Baal Samen (or Shamayin)-Anum-Adad in the Middle East, and Dyeus (Uranus-Zeus) in Eurasia. In the New Testament, Ouranos/Ouranois (Uranus) is the word for Heaven. Uranus is a god, and the original form of Zeus/Dyeus. I talked about this in my "The Demonic Deity Unveiled" post. Heaven is the sky, space, and a god.

There is another aspect of Heaven that we have to discuss. There are multiple levels of Heaven, and they are the sun, moon, and the planets. This goes back to astrology. There are seven Heavens, and each of them have a corresponding planet and angel:

1.) First Heaven: Moon and Archangel Gabriel.
2.) Second Heaven: Venus and Archangel Anael.
3.) Third Heaven: Mercury and Archangel Raphael.
4.) Fourth Heaven: Sun and Archangel Michael.
5.) Fifth Heaven: Mars and Archangel Samael/Azrael.
6.) Sixth Heaven: Jupiter and Archangel Sachiel/Asariel.
7.) Seventh Heaven: Saturn and Archangel Cassiel/Uriel.

These are the celestial bodies. The god of the Abrahamic religions is represented by each of the planets, sun, and moon. Therefore, each of these seven planets and archangels are different aspects of the deity itself. Check my "The Demonic Deity Unveiled," and "My List of Gods and Goddesses" posts for more information.

We also have to talk about Abraham real quick. In Luke 16, Jesus talks about the parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus. When Lazarus died, he "was carried by the angels to Abraham's arms." The Rich Man went to Hades when he died (Luke 16:19-23 [NASB]). In the King James Version, Hades is called Hell. According to Rev. Taylor (1884), Abraham is Saturn in the parable (pp. 172-173). This means that Lazarus ascended to the seventh Heaven/planet Saturn when he died. He didn't go to another universe, or beyond space.

There is a place like Heaven in the Greek religion. This place is called Elysium, also called the "Elysian Plain" and "Isles of the Blessed." This is a "paradise to which heroes on whom the gods conferred immortality were sent." Homer called it the "Elysian Plain," and said that it was located "at the end of the Earth, on the banks of the Oceanus." Hesiod called it the "Isles of the Blessed," and "By the time of Hesiod, however, Elysium was a place for the blessed dead, and, from Pindar on, entrance was gained by a righteous life." Elysium was edited to be a part of Hades. An example of this is in Virgil's book "Aeneid, Book VI" (Encyclopaedia Britannica, Elysium). This sounds a lot like the Christian Heaven, aside from the locations. "God's" chosen people go to Heaven/Elysium, while those he disdains go to Hell/Hades.

In summation, Heaven is not another universe, or beyond space. It was Earth's sky, and space itself. It was personified as a deity. The planets, sun, and moon represented seven different levels of Heaven. They were called celestial bodies, and were different personifications of the deity. I guess Heaven really is a place on Earth... Literally.

Links:
Almond (2018):
https://www.newsweek.com/heaven-afterlife-christianity-islam-judaism-966354
Clouds obscure a gate (Getty Images):
https://images.app.goo.gl/Zv69HPZuxfNruV6i6
Genesis 1:
-NASB:
https://biblehub.com/nasb_/genesis/1.htm
-Genesis 1:8 (Interlinear):
https://biblehub.com/interlinear/genesis/1-8.htm
Bible Hub. Strong's Hebrew: 8064. Shamayin:
https://biblehub.com/hebrew/8064.htm
Mackenzie (1915) (P. 304):
https://books.google.com/books?id=HTrXAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA529&dq=Ea+Dagon&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&source=gb_mobile_search&ovdme=1&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjU2Y3VnPKFAxV6EFkFHbvSBfwQ6AF6BAgHEAM#v=onepage&q=Ea%20Dagon&f=false
Cook (1914) (Vol. 1 p. 235 note 2):
https://books.google.com/books/about/Zeus.html?id=9e9gpRpZWCYC&printsec=frontcover&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&source=gb_mobile_entity&hl=en&gl=US&ovdme=1#v=onepage&q=Iaw%20&f=false
Luke 16:
-NASB:
https://biblehub.com/nasb_/luke/16.htm
-KJV:
https://biblehub.com/kjv/luke/16.htm
Rev. Taylor (1884) (PP. 172-173):
https://books.google.com/books/about/The_Devil_s_Pulpit.html?id=0mYWcpMPtLkC&printsec=frontcover&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&source=gb_mobile_entity&hl=en&gl=US#v=onepage&q=%20Saturn&f=false
The Demonic Deity Unveiled:
https://demythifyinggod.blogspot.com/2022/10/was-yhwh-yahwehjehovah-angel.html
My List of Gods and Goddesses:
https://demythifyinggod.blogspot.com/2024/12/my-list-of-gods-and-goddesses.html
Encyclopaedia Britannica. Elysium:
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Elysium-Greek-mythology

2.) Does Hell Exist?
The Hell from The Evil Fandom Wiki, Hell (theology):

Now we must wonder if Hell exists. I think this is the more interesting question since people, mainly Christians I'd believe, are concerned night and day about whether or not they're going to go to Hell. Honestly, I was extremely concerned about this as well. However, since Heaven isn't the afterlife, is Hell part of the afterlife? You can't have Hell without Heaven. Well... It turns out that Hell is the original afterlife in the Bible. Actually, we shouldn't even call it Hell.

The Jewish word for "Hades or the world of the dead" is called Sheol (actually spelled "Sh'ul"/"Shaul"). It is also translated as "grave, hell, pit" (Bible Hub, Strong's Hebrew: 7585. Sheol). The best scene in the Tanakh/Old Testament that concerns Sh'ul is in 1 Samuel 28. King Saul goes to a female medium to talk to the spirit of Samuel. The medium conjures up Samuel who came "'up from the earth.'" Interestingly, a "'divine being'" also came up. What's also important to note is what Samuel's spirit said to Saul: Saul and his sons will die and join Samuel in the afterlife (1 Samuel 28:3, 7-15, 19-20). Now, Saul is said to have disappointed Ieue/Ea (1 Samuel 15:10 and 35), so wouldn't that mean that Ieue/Ea sent Saul to Hell and Samuel would've gone to Heaven?Apparently not. Everybody goes to Sh'ul, and it's stated clearly in the Tanakh/Old Testament. Not only that, but Sh'ul seems to be the underworld. This is also stated in Job 7:9 where "Sheol" (Sh'ul) is a place you go "down to," and do "not come up" from. This brings us to Hades, which is the Greek underworld ruled by the god Hades. Hades is where "the infernal powers and [...] the dead" reside. Hades did watch over "the trial and punishment of the wicked after death," he wasn't "one of the judges in the underworld." The punishment of evil doers was inflicted by "the Furies (Erinyes)." Interestingly, there is another level of the underworld below Hades. It's called Tartarus, and it's where evil people are punished. Albeit, it "became almost a synonym for Hades." Hades is also Sheol "In the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible." It was a "dark region of the dead," (Encyclopaedia Britannica, Hades). So, Hades was the first layer of the afterlife and Tartarus was the second layer of the afterlife where evil people were punished. Hades is the Greek translation of Sh'ul, which means that everyone goes to Sh'ul when they die. This matches what is stated in the Tanakh/Old Testament.

In the New Testament, Hell is Hades. This is seen in the the NASB, and KJV, translations of the Rich Man and Lazarus parable in Luke 16:19-31. In the parables, the Rich Man is being tormented and burned in Hades (Luke 16:23-24). Hades is filled with "infernal powers" in the Greek version. Evil people also seem to be punished in Hades, and Tartarus, in the Greek version as well (Encyclopaedia Britannica, Hades, para. 2 and 4). Tartarus is also in the New Testament, and it is translated as Hell as well. In 2 Peter 2:4, Ieue/Ea sent disobedient angels to Hell to await judgement. This is the NASB translation. However, note a in the NASB translation said that Hell in this passage is Tartarus. The Berean Literal Bible, and Interlinear, translations said that Hell in this passage is Tartarus too (2 Peter 2:4 [NASB] [BLB] [Interlinear]) (Bible Hub, Strong’s Hebrew: 5020. tartaroo). Hell in the New Testament is the Hades of the Greek religion, just like in the Tanakh/Old Testament. The difference in the New Testament is that good people go to Heaven, a.k.a the sky/space/planets. As stated previously, Lazarus in Luke 16 went up to Abraham. Abraham is the planet Saturn/seventh Heaven. Jesus said that he is going to sit on the right hand of God, and he does that later on. This is the Archangel Michael's position, and some Christians have equated Jesus to Michael before. See my "Was Jesus Christ real?" post for more information on that. This means that Jesus ascended to the fourth Heaven/sun, from what I can tell.

There is one more word that is translated into Hell that we have to examine. In Matthew 5:29, the word for Hell in the Beatitudes is Gehenna. This is in notes m, t, and w for the NASB translation (Matthew 5:22, and 29-30). Gehenna is the Greek translation of "Ge Hinnom, meaning 'valley of Hinnom.'" This was a literal "valley west and south of Jerusalem where children were burned as sacrifices to the Ammonite god Molech." It was later turned into a "garbage center to discourage a reintroduction of such sacrifices." Gehenna then served as "imagery of the burning of humans" and "the concept of 'hellfire' to Jewish and Christian eschatology," (Encyclopaedia Britannica, Gehenna). This valley, called "Ben-hinnom," and the sacrifices to Molech, are mentioned in Jeremiah 32:35. As we already know, Molech is a title for the god of the Bible and not the name of another god. The human sacrifices were made to Ieue/Ea-'l/Enlil, not a rival god. See my "The Demonic Deity Unveiled" post. Ben hinnom/Gehenna is a literal place on Earth, not Hell. At the very least, it's a metaphor.

So, what is Hell? It's the underworld, and everyone goes there. Heck, from what I've seen, Hell isn't the proper name. It's Sh'ul in Jewish, and Hades in Greek. Evil people, and divine beings, do get tortured there and in Tartarus. Ben hinnom/Gehenna is not Sh'ul/Hades or Hell, but a physical place on Earth.

Where did this belief of the underworld come from? I would venture to guess that, since people are buried into the Earth (usually), it would make sense that our ancestors believed that the afterlife was the underworld. Some support for my idea comes, once again, from the Greek religion. Some caves were thought to have been entrances into Hades (Schumacher, 2002; in Marinatos and Hagg, 2002, p. 59). In the story of Orpheus and Eurydice, Orpheus physically goes to Hades to bring back the deceased Eurydice. There is an "opening into the land of the living" in Hades. It allows physical people to leave (Encyclopaedia Britannica, Orpheus, para. 3). This sounds like a cave, if you ask me. At the very least, it's a physical hole of some kind. Hades/Hell is inside the planet Earth!

3.) The Real Afterlife?
Destiny of Souls (2000) by Michael Newton, Ph.D.:

Although we probably cannot know the afterlife entirely, there seems to be some evidence to suggest that it's completely different from the Heaven and Hell of Christianity. I found a book, Newton (1994), which details the journey of the soul in the spirit world and the Earth. Dr. Newton said that, according to the cases studies that he has investigated, after we die our souls are taken to the spirit world. Depending on what kind of soul we have (a young or old soul), we can be guided to the spirit world by a spiritual guide or a soul mate. This typically always happens for a young soul, or a child soul. None of the subjects documented a “major religious figure such as Jesus or Buddha” ever bringing souls to the afterlife, based on Newton's research. This seems to be more of a job for the soul guides. We are all assigned a guide, who exist in Earth's astral plane. When we reach the spirit world, Newton details something amazing that happens. Instead of going to Heaven or Hell, we basically go through a review of our life on Earth. If we were bad on Earth, we go to "special centers" or "'intensive care units.'" This sounds like therapy, if you ask me. Then, you will go back to Earth through reincarnation. This seems to be done in order to learn a lesson that you didn't learn in your previous life. Karma is also a part of this. I'm a big believer in karma, I'll tell you that! Anyways, Newton said that this isn't punishment, although the reincarnated soul might agree to go through a troubled life in order to learn their lesson. If there is any place that could be linked to a Hell, Newton said that it's probably Earth. As for our reward, it seems to be resting from our journey on Earth. We also socialize with other souls. We seem to be assigned to a soul "cluster group." The groups seem to be our friends or "intimate soulmates," and they welcome us back with open arms and celebration (pp. 1-4 [Ch. 1]).

No Jesus Christ, Buddha, or other major religious figures; no Heaven or Hell, and no divine reward or punishment as stated in our religions. We all go back to the same place after we die (which is what the Jewish and Greek religions stated, but this is contrary to Christianity), and we regroup with loved ones. If we were evil in our past life on Earth, we reincarnate in order to learn our lesson and, hopefully, become a better person. Honestly, the more I learn about the afterlife, the more I realize that Christianity's view of it is the worst one. The Jewish and Greek religions were somewhat closer to the truth.

Links:
Newton (1994):
https://mariaelenamexia.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Destiny-of-Souls-New-Case-Studies-of-Life-Between-Lives.pdf
-Date:
https://books.google.com/books?id=NcGklVFxLloC&printsec=copyright#v=onepage&q&f=false

4.) Conclusions:
Heaven and Hell are not the afterlife. They're not a place above space either. Heaven is the Earth's sky/atmosphere or space, and its multiple levels are the sun, moon, and the planets represented by the symbols of the zodiac and archangels. Heaven is also a god in both the Jewish and Greek religions. Christian Heaven acts like the Greek Heaven, Elysium. However, Elysium is located in Hades. Speaking of Hades, that is the proper name of Hell. Sh'ul/Hades is the afterlife in the Tanakh/Old Testament and Greek religion. Everybody goes there when they die, both the good and the bad. This changed in the Christian religion, where good people go to the sky/space and the bad go to the underworld. The Christian Hades matches the Greek Hades, where evil people are judged and tortured. They can also be tortured in Tartarus as well, which is a second level of the Greek afterlife and is also in the New Testament. Ben hinnom/Gehenna is translated as Hell, but it's not the afterlife. It's a literal place near Jerusalem, and served as a metaphor for hellfire. Hades is a physical place on Earth, and physical people can enter and leave it. I believe this is based on a possible ancient belief that, since we bury our dead into the ground, the afterlife was thought to have been underground. Later on, Christianity changed this slightly: The good go to the sky/space while the bad go underground.

Does Heaven exist? The Heaven that we usually think of does not exist. Does Hades exists? No. We know what is under the Earth, and there isn't a bunch of spirits being tortured or waiting to be judged. What's really under the Earth is magma, and the Earth's cores. From what I can tell, the afterlife is not what Christianity says it is. We all go to the same place, are welcomed back by our soul cluster groups, and if we need to redo our life on Earth we reincarnate.

Tuesday, July 15, 2025

Did Human Beings Invent God?

The Creation of Adam (1512 A.D.) by Michelangelo (Wikipedia):

So far, I've believed that the gods and goddesses of our religions are the planets, the moon, and the sun. They were also represented by different animals, and plants. I thought that was the answer, and for a little while it was. However, a thought occurred to me months ago: Humans must've anthropomorphized these things in order to represent their deities. I was reading Casanova (2020), and he said that humans have "represented the gods in the likeness of human beings." Since "human beings move, talk, work, etc.," myths are "highly anthropomorphic and, therefore, demands the production of a narrative." Human imagination also plays a part in how we depict gods as well. One such example is Thor played by actor Chris Hemsworth in the Marvel live-action superhero films. Another example is painting. In Michelangelo's The Creation of Adam (1510 A.D.), the Christian god is depicted "as an old man" (pp. 57-58). These two pages from his book put another idea in my head: Did human beings invent the gods? Now, Casanova is a Christian (check the Synopsis) so I don't think he would agree with my statement entirely. However, I'm starting to think that the deities of our religions were created, and anthropomorphized, by human beings. This includes the Abrahamic god.

To be honest, this was staring me in the face all along and I didn't even realize it! The gods looked like us, and acted like us. Even Jesus Christ came to Earth and became a human in the gospels. Every single god and goddess was depicted as a human, at least at some point in time. Now, our religious texts state that the gods created man. However, archeology says the opposite. There doesn't seem to be any reconciliation between these two facts. That is... unless human beings are gods? Think about it... If human beings created the gods in our image instead, wouldn't that make US the real creators? We invented the gods. We wrote the holy books and created the religions, not the gods. We sacrificed to them, and performed rituals for their amusement. We depicted them in statues and other artwork, giving them life. We even wage wars in their names. We pray to them day and night. Do the gods ever show up? No! We have to go to a prophet, a shaman, a rabbi, a priest, pr a preacher in order to know what the gods want from us. Sure, you'll have somebody that says, "I prayed to Jesus, and he healed me when I called on His name!" My response is, "Why doesn't Jesus come back already, and save us all from our ailments? What's keeping him from coming back today? People are dying, and he only saves one person!? Why not everybody?" I'm sure someone will have a response to that and I bet that I can even guess a few, but the main point is that Jesus Christ, his daddy Ieue/Ea, and all of the other gods have gone dark on us. Heck, the afterlife isn't even called Heaven. In the New Testament, Heaven is a god named Uranus. Uranus is another version of Zeus, and Heaven/Uranus is Earth's sky and not another dimension! I've talked about this already in my "The Demonic Deity Unveiled" post. Everything that we've been told about God and the afterlife in our holy books is wrong, from what I can tell.

I guess you're wondering how I'm not an Atheist yet? Well, it's because I want to check every nook and cranny before I completely give up. Not to mention, there are some things about the supernatural that I believe in and want to explore. Right now, I am willing to believe that human beings are the true creators, or Creator. You can say god and goddess if you want. Does that mean that we can do anything that the gods of our religion can do? No, because religion is based on mythology and anthropomorphism. However, we do have the power to do amazing things. Our imagination and intellect create religion, and we have to power to help each other and our planet. I guess you can say that, when we do bad things to each other and other creatures, we can act like Satan/Devil or a demon. That's an idea I will like to explore later on though.

As to how we created the gods, we already know that we used anthropomorphism for animals, and planets. In fact, let's talk about the sun real quick. The sun has been constantly equated to multiple gods. This is mainly due to the zodiac, and the cycle of the sun during the day. It has even been stated by Pythagoras that the planets were physical bodies for spirits and souls of other beings, or that human beings inhabited the planets and became divine as explained by Rudolf Steiner. Steiner also quoted an Egyptian sage saying that human beings become gods through deification. I believe this is how Jesus Christ was created. A real man called the Teacher of Righteousness was deified into Jesus Christ after his death. Check out my "The Demonic Deity Unveiled" and "Was Jesus Christ Real?" posts for more information. The sun was also seen as the soul, and it was worshipped basically worldwide. Jesus Christ was also the sun (n.a., 1841, pp. 64, 95, 165, and 241-242). On the other hand, Blavatsky (1878) said that sun worshippers, and all of the ancients, viewed the sun "as an emblem of their metaphysical invisible central sun-god." For example, the Hindus worshipped the sun "allegorically" as the soul of everything. All souls come from it, and will return to it. However, this sun was "the central, invisible sun, GOD," (Vol. 1 p. 270). In other words, the sun was a symbol for the soul that inhabited everything. Our ancestors didn't literally worship the sun. I partially believe that, but my previous research goes against that. Still, all of this demonstrates that human beings created the gods using objects and other things from their immediate surroundings.

Now, it's time to talk about something that I find very interesting. This topic is on thought forms. From what I can tell, according to Manly P. Hall, a thought form is a "strange geometric outpourings" made of "many-colored waves and rays." Simply put, they are created by thinking of a thought. Hall also calls a thought a "geometric outpouring of the mental body," (Hall, 1924, p. 33). However, we need to dive deeper. I found a lecture video on YouTube from the Theosophical Society in Portland by Peggy Huebel that talks about thought forms. In the lecture, she talks about a specific thought form called egregores. An egregores is a thought form created from the consciousness of like-minded people. This includes deities, and religions (YouTube, Theosophical Society in Portland, 2025, 21:50 and 35:50).

Egregores: The Occult Entities that Watch Over human Destiny (2018) by Mark Stavish:

I also found a book on egregores that was mentioned everywhere online. According to Stavish (2018), the word "egregore" is Greek for "'wakeful' of 'watcher.'" Interestingly, it is an "angelic being" in the Book of Enoch. According to Mouni Sadhou, an egregore is an “‘collective entity’” that is made up of a group of people. This includes religions. An older definition is a “conduit for a specific psychic intelligence of a nonhuman nature connecting the invisible dimensions with the material world in which we live.” This is more for cults and religions. Egregores have physical (made up of us/people who worship it), astral, and mental bodies. It seems that the egregore is the “sum total of all these elements.” The scholar Jocelyn Goodwin traced the origins of egregores in the West to Greece, and Rome. This was part of their “semi-animistic beliefs.” Egregores helped with religion, and politics. The “priestly class” focused on maintaining this relationship between the physical and nonphysical worlds, and doing what the gods ordered. Goodwin also stated that egregores are “‘augmented by human belief, ritual, and especially by sacrifice.’” Their job is watch over “‘some earthly affair or collectivity.’” They later become “‘an immortal god or goddess, and angel, or a daimon,’” (pp. 20-22). Honestly, there's a lot to talk about here but you get the gist of it.

I think the egregore concept helps to explain something that crossed my mind lately. Have you ever noticed that the gods and goddesses of our religions look like the people who started the religion? The Middle-Eastern gods look and dress like Middle-Eastern people. Same thing goes for the gods of every other continent. We also depict the gods of other human races to look like our own race. This can be seen in Michelangelo's depiction of Ea/Ieue in his The Creation of Adam painting. I have also seen the African American Jesus Christ. Now, Ea/Ieue was a Middle Eastern god and not a European god. The real Ieushuo/Joshua/Jesus was a mortal Middle-Eastern man, not African American. Why do we do this? Relatability. We connect to the gods when they're depicted like us. If Jesus is depicted as a Black man, this helps Blacks to connect with him because he "understands" the pain that Black people are going through. Jesus is on the "Black person's side" when he's Black. It's also a good way to... I don't want to get political, but it helps with racial superiority. For example, I grew up with the European Jesus Christ despite being African American myself. I also saw God was a White man for most of my life, and it's still hard sometimes to remember that the real Ieushuo wasn't European. The White Jesus was a tool for the White slave owners in the United States during the Antebellum slave trade. Go to anybody in the general public today and ask them what race was Jesus. You will still get some people to say that he was White/European. This is because the image of the White Jesus has been inserted into the public's consciousness for centuries. For more information on this, check out Blum and Harvey (2012) (pp. 9-10, 15, 17, 21, etc.).

His Voyage: The Life of Jesus (n. d.) by Vincent Barzoni:

Another recent example I've found is Amurru, the god of the Amurru/Amorites. Frayne and Stuckey (2021) said that said that Amurru was the "divine personification of the Amorites," (p. 18). Toorn (1999) said that Amurru was "the personification of the Amorites," (in Toorn et al., 1999, p. 32). A similar situation can be supported with the Jews and their god. The god of the Jews is Ieue (Ea/Eau), or Jeue using the modern alphabet. Jeue is the god of the Jews. Using Amurru as an example, I believe that Ieue/Jeue is the divine personification of the Jewish people. Check out my post The Demonic Deity Unveiled for more information. The gods look like the people who made them, and are even named after them.

I think this is the best explanation that I have for the origin of the deities of our religions: as human beings evolved, we used our imaginations to create our gods and religions. The best expression of this is the concept of thought forms and egregores. We also took objects, plants, and animals from our environment and turned them into symbols of the divine. Humans created and sustain the gods, and our bodies are templates for their own. The gods are divine anthropomorphic representations of the people who created them. This basically means that human beings are gods. That is a topic for another post though. The gods were created for protection and benefits, and the priests helped to satisfy the deity in order to maintain the benefits that said deity bestowed upon the people. For now, we have a satisfactory answer as to how and why religions were started that matches the data.