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Documentary
Review . . .
Caesar=s
Messiah: The Roman Conspiracy to Invent Jesus
by Jeanne (Pythia)
Leiter
I enjoy
reading archaeological and
anthropological books and magazines which feed
my left brain. That's how my logical brain
started warring with my right brain--the side of
belief. I was raised Christian and always
believed in Jesus, who I'm supposed to emulate,
and the one who loves me because, "The Bible
tells me so."
When I was
younger, and under the Christian Spell, I
believed in the man, Jesus, because I was told
and therefore believed that the Bible was
inspired by God. So, whatever it had to say
about Jesus, or anything else, had to be true.
No other book besides the Bible ever showed me
any proof of a real person named Jesus
living in the Middle East at 1 C.E. except for
some writings by Josephus Bar Matthias (37-100
C.E.). I thought it was strange that this was
the only non-Bible mention of this supposed
world changer. This documentary (and book of the
same name: see below for book information) shows
us that Josephus, a Jew, was adopted into the
Imperial Flavian Family and took the name,
Flavius Josephus. Flavian is the family name for
the dynasty of emperors founded by Vespasian.
Titus
Flavius Vespasianus (39-81 C.E.) was the eldest
son of Vespasian. Why, you ask would Titus, a
Roman emperor, hire and pay Josephus to write
about this imaginary savior? It turns out that
Titus was pretty darn smart. This time period
was very turbulent, Titus schemed that by
promoting a gentle Jew, it would defuse the
situation. Josephus was paid to invent the
fictional Jesus to control the Jewish masses!
If you
accept Sparkis' and Atwill's contention that
Josephus wrote the gospels and not Matthew (an
homage to himself Josephus Bar Matthias?),
Mark, Luke or John then consider this from the
Bible:
"Therefore
the man who rebels against his ruler is
resisting God's will; and those who thus resist
will bring punishment upon themselves.
For judges
and magistrates are to be feared not by
right-doers but by wrong-doers. You desire, do
you not?, to have no reason to fear your ruler.
Well, do the thing that is right, and then he
will commend you.
For he is
God's servant for your benefit. But if you do
what is wrong, be afraid. He does not wear the
sword to no purpose: he is God's servant, an
administrator to inflict punishment upon
evil-doers.
We must obey
therefore, not only in order to escape
punishment, but also for conscience's sake.
Why, this is
really the reason you pay taxes; for
tax-gatherers are ministers of God, devoting
their energies to this very work.
Romans 13:2-6
Does that
sound like an early Christian wrote that? One
whose supposed beliefs are 180 degrees in
opposition to the Romans?
The remainder of the history lesson can be
experienced with the documentary. Believe me,
history is not my favorite subject, but the way it's
discussed by the scholars and shown by artifacts and
sites is captivating. The running time is 84
minutes. I've seen it twice and each time the
documentary was finished way too soon. I want to see
it again, in order to remember all of the many facts
exposing Jesus as a Vespasian invention. The
documentary scholars bring up quotes, even from the
Bible itself, to show word play or contradictions.
For instance, Joseph of Arimathea, who supposedly
gave up his tomb to house the body of the deceased
Jesus. . . Scholars are unable to find any town or
country at that time called anything like Arimathea.
Also, and this made me chuckle, Joseph of Arimathea
is an anagram of Josephus Bar Matthias!
The documentary
answers other questions besides whether the man
Jesus actually existed and why there is no historic
archaeological evidence of his existence. It also
addresses the questions that have been debated for
centuries, such as: Why were the gospels written in
Greek, rather than Hebrew or Aramaic? Did simple
fishermen really know how to read and write? Really?
Another question dealt with is one I never thought
of, since as far as I was concerned, my childhood
religion (Catholicism) had always designated Rome as
its heart and soul, just 'cause. But why Rome?, a
large center of Paganism, largely a religion
worshiping Mithras.
A nuclear bomb
question (for me) brought up in the documentary is:
Why were the first Christian popes and earliest
saints all members of the Flavius Caesar ruling
family?
I have enjoyed
the documentary; I intend to read the book. I'd
advise every open-minded person who wants to know
the truth about Jesus and Christianity to do the
same. Christians and Pagans both have their
mythologies. The big But is that Pagans know
they are mythologies.
There is too
much interesting information in the documentary and
book to cover in this review. To delve deeper into
the fascinating expose of Jesus and the Bible, order
the book and/or DVD from their website.
www.caesarsmessiahdoc.com
Written by
Nijole Sparkis and Joseph Atwill
Narrated by
Nijole Sparkis
Produced by
Nijole Sparkis, Fritz Heede, and Joseph Atwill
Directed by
Fritz Heede
Book published
by CrateSpace, 7290 B Investment Drive, Charleston,
N.C.,29418
Written by Joseph Atwill ISBN:
978-1461096495
Featured
scholars: Joseph Atwill, Prof. Robert Eisenman, John
Hudson, Kenneth Humphreys, Dr. Rod Blackhirst,
Acharya S / D.M. Murdock, and Timothy Freke
Brave . . . Movie Review
by Jeanne (Pythia)
Leiter
I
know what you're thinking. . . Brave is a
animated Disney movie therefore the story will
either start off with a dead mother or she'll be
absent from the plot. Also, the fair maiden will be
saved by her Prince Charming. You'd be totally,
completely wrong.
Brave
is the story of a young Celtic princess who emulates
her mother in beauty and brains and follows in her
father's footsteps as a warrior. When her father
gives the young girl, Merida, a child-sized bow &
arrow set for her birthday, she begins her
individuation from her mother and father. Finding
her own path in life, she rides her horse into the
forest--alone. She routinely practices archery,
hitting target after target from her companion
horse.
Those
of you who know something about Celtic history will
recognize Merida as a reincarnation of the warrior
queen Boudica from the Iceni tribe. In ~60 C.E. she
and her sister inherited their father's empire. He
had specified such in his will which was immediately
and completely ignored by the Roman Empire who
annexed the land as though it had been conquered.
Boudica and her daughters gathered an army and led a
revolt which destroyed three Roman-held towns, the
last being Londinium (modern day London), and in the
process, killing at least 70,000 Romans.
In
the forest, Nature, Merida finds that legends are
real and witches and magic do exist in her world.
She continues to believe in what she has seen even
against everyone's insistence that what exists is
only what can be seen. Most importantly, she learns
the consequences of spells (wishes) that are not
thought out sufficiently beforehand. There is a
large serving of Shape-Shifting Shamanism in the
movie, too. Merida also learns that in order to put
things aright, that which she inadvertently caused,
she must go within and find the wisdom and the
bravery which she didn't even know was there.
The
story line is well-written, the voice acting is
extremely well done. The actors include Kelly
Macdonald, Emma Thompson, Robbie Coltrane, and John
Ratzenberger to name a few. There was a heaping
plateful of humor, served piece by piece throughout
the film, a lot coming from Merida's young, triplet
brothers who don't know how to stay out of trouble.
The only caveat I would have is to be aware that
there is a violent scene, further on in the movie,
of two Shape-Shifted bears fighting. So, take that
into account before bringing a very young child to
see Brave.
The
bottom line is. . . male, female, young or old--you
should see this movie. You will walk out of the
theatre feeling better.
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You are sitting
around a fire after a hard day of work. The air cools and the sun
sets, the frogs and crickets begin singing as the sky darkens.
Suddenly the person you have been eagerly awaiting leaps to the
center of the circle. Your Shaman begins her story. You have heard
the story a hundred times, but the antics of the animals and the
wisdom in the story never fail to give you pleasure. As she weaves
her tale, the knowledge that every thing is alive, carrying its own
power and wisdom, soothes your soul.
Let
us join together, in this virtual circle, and share these Animal
Tales. Let us once again feel how the stories connect us to the
natural world and remind us that we are all part of a vast Circle of
Life. Listen now as the Shaman's animal stories whisper tales of
that power and wisdom in your ear.
Tonight it is a Pueblo/Zuni tale of the American Southwest. Turkey medicine
teaches the spirit of giving. As with the buffalo, the primary peoples of
the Americas respected and revered the animals that provided them with
sustenance. Benjamin Franklin suggested the Turkey become the national bird.
How different would our country be if the bird, whose medicine is the spirit
of giving, was the national bird?
THE POOR TURKEY GIRL
A Native American - Santa Clara Pueblo and Zuni tale
retold by Oban
A very long time ago in the village of
Shufinne, a young orphan girl lived with her aunt.
The aunt spoilt her
own children but was very mean to the little girl. She made her work from
sunrise to sunset gathering wood, working in the fields, patching the mud
walls of their house and looking after the turkeys.
Each morning the girl
would let the turkeys out of their cages and take them into the canyons to
let them search for food.
Each night she would
go up into the canyons and call the turkeys to come home. They would gather
round her and follow her back to their cages. Everyone in the village,
including her cousins, called her Turkey Girl.
She was often sent
off with the turkeys without any breakfast, and many times she went to bed
hungry at night.
Turkey Girl worked
hard for years. No one showed her any kindness. But she was very kind and
caring to the turkeys. They loved her in return and came immediately she
called them at night to lead them back to their cages.
Gradually Turkey Girl
grew into a young woman. But she always looked dirty and tired from all the
hard work she did. Her hair was a tangled, untidy mess and her clothes were
patched and tattered hand downs from her cousins.
One day it was
announced there would be a big dance in the village in four days time.
Everyone was excited. Turkey Girl’s cousins began sewing new mantas or
dresses for the dance. They laughed as they sewed, and talked about how
wonderful they would look at the dance.
Turkey Girl knew she
was not invited and even if she was, she had nothing to wear. Everyone would
laugh at her dirty and patched clothes.
For the next three
days as Turkey Girl walked with her turkeys into the canyons, she sighed and
talked to the birds about the dance.
“It would be so cool
to go to that dance.” she sighed.
The turkeys kept
walking.
“But it’s never going
to happen. And even if I could go I don’t have a nice dress to wear.
Everyone would laugh at me,” she said to the turkeys.
The turkeys kept
walking.
On the fourth day as
Turkey Girl talked and thought about the dance, she didn’t notice that the
turkeys had led her further into the canyons than she had ever been before.
The turkeys stopped
and circled her.
The oldest turkey
flapped his wings, strutted up to her and said “We can help you go to the
dance.”
Turkey Girl stared at
the old turkey with her mouth wide open, unable to speak.
Finally she screamed,
“You spoke to me, you really spoke to me! Wow! My turkeys can talk!”
“Yes we can talk when
we want to,” said the old turkey. “Now get over it!”
“Ok, talking turkeys!
I’m cool with that,” said Turkey Girl. “Now what were you saying about the
dance?”
The old turkey said,
“If you trust us and do what we say, we can help you go to the dance.”
“But I’ve got nothing
to wear except these old clothes, and I’m dirty,” cried the girl.
The turkeys stared at
her without saying a word.
“Ok, I trust you,”
said Turkey Girl. “You've been my only friends all these years.”
The old turkey told
her to take off her dress and put it on the ground. He then strutted back
and forth on it, picking at it with his beak and beating it with his wings.
The other turkeys
circled around Turkey Girl, brushing her with their wings and combing her
hair with their beaks until her skin was clean and smooth and her long black
hair was shining and wavy.
When the turkeys
stepped away from her, the old turkey stood there, holding a beautifully
embroidered white dress in his beak. Turkey Girl put it on.
A large turkey lifted
his wing and out fell a pair of the finest white moccasins.
Another turkey
coughed and out came a sparkling shell necklace.
Dressed in her new
clothes and with her glowing face, Turkey Girl looked truly beautiful.
She thanked the
turkeys and turned to leave the canyon to go to the dance.
“Before you go,” said
the old turkey, “you must promise not to forget us here in the canyon and
come back before it is dark, to take us back to our cages.”
“I promise!” shouted
Turkey Girl, as she turned and ran towards the village. “You can trust me.”
When Turkey Girl
reached the village no one recognized her in her gorgeous new clothes.
All the young men
looked at her admiringly, wondering who this beautiful young woman was. All
the young women greeted her warmly.
At first Turkey Girl
was a bit shy and found it hard to talk but gradually she joined in the
dancing. The more she relaxed, the more she enjoyed herself and danced and
danced, forgetting about the turkeys.
It wasn’t until she
noticed the long shadows cast by the sun as it sank behind the mountains,
that she remembered the turkeys.
Turkey Girl ran from
the village, ignoring all her new friends who called after her.
When she reached the
canyon where she had left the turkeys it was dark and all the turkeys had
gone.
Turkey Girl ran
through the canyons and mountains calling out to the turkeys. She called and
called but the turkeys would not answer her.
The faster she chased
them the faster the turkeys ran away from her.
Brush and thorns
ripped her new clothes and they became covered in dust and dirt. The
beautiful necklace broke and the shells were lost in the dark.
Finally Turkey Girl
stopped chasing the turkeys and walked back to the village, sobbing and
dirty. She knew life would be much harder now without her good friends the
turkeys.
That is why to this
day wild turkeys are scattered throughout the canyons and mountains.
And because of Turkey
Girl’s broken promise, turkeys no longer trust humans and run away whenever
we come near.
http://www.planetozkids.com/oban/index.html
۞
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