to the nines at 'midnight mass' worshiping the
deity of the unholy church rather than
the God of all humanity.
Sunday, December 23, 2012
....as fake as the folks at midnight-mass.
to the nines at 'midnight mass' worshiping the
deity of the unholy church rather than
the God of all humanity.
Saturday, December 15, 2012
Part 6. Yeshua (Jesus), a prophet for humanity, a messenger of God (Allah, Elli, Yehova, Yahweh)
Excerpt from, "Jesus, a prophet of Islam". (Muhammad 'Ata ur-Rahim)
Introduction
Today, Christianity as a body of metaphysics is frankly non-existent. No one is more aware of this than the Vatican. Their desperate attempts to co-opt every and any intellectual movement into the Christian thesis have gone beyond the bounds of satire. The most significant sign of their intellectual fraudelence has been the most complete defection of the Christian intelligentsia into the Marxist and post-Marxist socialist camp.
To unbelievers and to people of other faiths, it always appeared baffling how Christians could accommodate themselves to every power-nexus that appeared, right or left wing. From this work, it is clear that there is no longer any such thing as the Christian religion. Christianity is OVER. THE MYTH HAS FINALLY EXPLODED.
....contd
Friday, December 14, 2012
Part 5. Yeshua (Jesus), a prophet for humanity, a messenger of God (Allah, Elli, Yehova, Yahweh)
Excerpt from, "Jesus, a prophet of Islam". (Muhammad 'Ata ur-Rahim)
Introduction
To the non-Christian believers and Muslims in general, Christianity is a historical reality based on metaphysical fiction. Because it's foundations are mythical and invented, as opposed to existential and revealed, it appears as a locked system of negation. Declaring a doctrine of love, it establishes the inquisition. Preaching pacifism, it enacts the crusades. Calling to poverty, it constructs the vast edifice of wealth called the Church. Declaring 'mysteries', it involves itself in politics. Reformation, far from resolving the contradictions, revealed them further. Declaring the priesthood of all believers, they established a priesthood, but with a shift of focus by which the inherent insanity in the Christian fiction began to emerge.
 |
| The Concordat between the Vatican and the Nazis, Cardinal Secretary of State, Eugenio Pacelli (later to become Pope Pius XII) signs the Concordat between Nazi Germany and the Vatican at a formal ceremony in Rome on 20 July 1933. Nazi Vice-Chancellor Franz von Papen sits at the left, Pacelli in the middle, and Rudolf Buttmann sits at the right. The Concordat effectively legitimized Hitler and the Nazi government to the eyes of Catholicism, Christianity, and the world. |
The qualifications of priesthood in the reformed churches were PURELY ACADEMIC, while before a man could win a place in the hierarchy through piety and withdrawal from the world. This was the beginning of the concept of the secular - now, there was a zone of 'religion' and a zone of politics. Church and state are held to be separate. What we discover is that, they HAVE BEEN ONE, as the author reveals in this thought-provoking study, from the beginning of the church's bloody history.
....contd
Thursday, December 13, 2012
The Christmas spirit is not what you drink......
......excerpt from "A Christmas Song". Written by Ian Anderson for the album "Living In The Past". Era 1972.
Wednesday, December 12, 2012
Part 4. Yeshua (Jesus), a prophet for humanity, a messenger of God (Allah, Elli, Yehova, Yahweh)
Excerpt from, "Jesus, a prophet of Islam". (Muhammad 'Ata ur-Rahim)
PREFACE
His excellency, Ahmad Jamajoom of Jeddah visited me in Karachi, and his encouragement and support were always available to me whenever I was facing any difficulty.
Thanks also due to his Eminence Shaykh Mahmoud Subhi of Jamiat Sawa Islamia in Tripoli for making it possible for me to come to London in order to undertake the study of this subject in depth.
In London, I met his Emminence Shaykh Abd al-Qadir as-Sufi. At every step he extended his helping hand to me. This resulted in the collaboration of Mr. Ahmad Thomson with me. He assisted in structuring the the collected material and without him, work would have been painfully slow. Hajj 'Abd al-Haqq Bewley was always ready with useful suggestions and advice.
The affection and heart-warming friendship I received from Dr Ali Aneizi cannot be described, only deeply felt.
Lastly, in the words in the Quran,
Nothing from me except with the help from Allah (God, Yahweh, Jehova, Eli, Elohim)
Muhammad 'Ata ur-Rahim
London
7 Juma'dah al'Awal
...........contd
Monday, December 10, 2012
Part 3. Yeshua (Jesus), a prophet for humanity, a messenger of God (Allah, Elli, Yehova, Yahweh)
Excerpt from, "Jesus, a prophet of Islam". (Muhammad 'Ata ur-Rahim)
PREFACE
In this book an attempt is made, perhaps for the first time, to study the sacred life of Jesus, using all available sources, including the Dead Sea Scrolls, Christian Scripture, modern research, Qu'ran and Hadith. Christian scholars who attempt to write the history of Jesus, never completely free themselves of the idea of his divinity. When they fail to prove his divinity, they sometimes conclude that he did not exist at all, or that he his "everything to everybody". An objective study is impossible to anyone with this frame of mind. This book starts with the conviction that Jesus DID exist. He was a man and a prophet for humanity, from God (Allah,
Eli, Jehovah, Yahweh, Elohim).
This work is a result of 30 years of study. Thanks to Amatur Rashid who went to the trouble of searching for out-of-point books sold on the streets of many cities in the USA. These books were unavailable in the libraries of Karachi, so the help she gave me was of vital importance.
......contd
Sunday, December 9, 2012
Part2. Yeshua (Jesus), a prophet for humanity, a messenger of God (Allah, Elli, Yehova, Yahweh)
Excerpt from, "Jesus, a prophet of Islam". (Muhammad 'Ata ur-Rahim)
PREFACE
It is suggested in some quarters that, to achieve integration in England, the Muslims should change their festivals to synchronize with Christmas and Easter. Those who say this easily forget that these are pre-Christian pagan festivals.
One is the ancient birthday of the sun-god and the other is a sacred festival of the Anglo-Saxon goddess of fertility. In this situation, one begins to wonder who in reality in the "Anti-Christ".
.....contd
Saturday, December 8, 2012
Part1. Yeshua (Jesus), a prophet for humanity, a messenger of God (Allah, Elli, Yehova, Yahweh)
Excerpt from, "Jesus, a prophet of Islam". (Muhammad 'Ata ur-Rahim)
PREFACE
Eminent scholars of Christian history admit that the present-day Christianity is a "mask" on the face of Jesus, and goes on to add that a mask worn for a long time acquires a life of it's own and it has to be accepted as such. The Muslim believes in the Jesus of history and refuses to accept the "mask". This, in a nutshell, has been the point of difference between Islam and the church for the last 1400 years. Even before the advent of Islam, the Arians, the Paulicians (not the Paulinists of Saul (Paul) of Tarsus) and the Goths, to mention only a few, accepted Jesus but rejected the "mask". The 'Holy' Roman Emperors forced Christians to think alike.
To achieve this impossible goal, millions of Christians were killed. Sebastian Casteillio, a French preacher and theologian; and one of the first Reformed Christian proponents of religious toleration, freedom of conscience and thought, said, "To kill a man is not to protect a doctrine, but it is to kill a man". Conviction cannot be forced with a dagger.
.....contd
Sunday, December 2, 2012
The Lost Gospels .....
The Lost Gospels, presented by Anglican priest Pete Owen Jones, is a
fascinating exploration into the huge number of ancient Christian texts
that didn't make it into the New Testament. Shocking and challenging,
these were works in that presented a Jesus who didn't die, who took
revenge on his enemies and who kissed Mary Magdalene on the mouth. This
Jesus is unrecognisable from that found in the traditional books of the
New Testament.
Pete travels through Egypt and the former Roman
Empire looking at the emerging evidence of a Christian world that's very
different from the one we know. He discovers that in addition to the
gospels of Mark, Matthew, Luke and John, there were over 70 gospels,
acts, letters and apocalypses circulating in the early Church.
Through
these lost Gospels, Owen Jones reconstructs the intense intellectual
and political struggles for orthodoxy that were fought in the early
centuries of Christianity, a battle involving different Christian sects,
each convinced that their gospels were true and sacred.
The
worldwide success of Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code has sparked new
interest about the origins of the Christian faith. Pete Owen Jones sets
out the context in which heretical texts like the Gospel of Mary
emerged. He also strikes a cautionary note: if these lost Gospels had
been allowed to flourish, Christianity may well have faced an uncertain
future, or perhaps not survived at all.
The documentary, although
a great feat of scholarship falls short of exploring some other
important manuscripts such as the Gospel of Judas and the Gospel of
Barnabas. It also fails to eplore the evidences in the gospels of the
other possibility of Christ's nature: that he was entirely human.
However, the question that really needs to be asked is: isn't God himself supposed to decide what comprises of his book?
The Church decided in the 3rd or 4th century, that it was going to
decide what gospels were going to be included in the Bible, so that
meant most of them were not and those that weren't were hidden for 1500
years. Discover what these other gospels had to say.
Tuesday, November 27, 2012
"Uncle Ben needs you in the Vatican army!"
 |
| "Come to me, my sons, come to el Papa!" |
click here to read .........
Sure, why not! Especially when the Vatican's European base appears to be waning (which obviously, he's not telling). Ben, now attempts to reach out to others whom for ages were considered 'children of a lesser God' by the papal elite.
Wow! an Indian pope or perhaps a Nigerian one (if the traditional Europeans aren't interested) or even a cowboy pope (US) to bolster the papal coffers. Unprecedented or desperate.
Yes! anything to keep the charade going and pray tell, why the emphasis on 'Universal Church' as if we need reminding.
Perhaps the Europeans are beginning to see the light, as evident by their bare churches which now thrive on tourism dollars to keep the ample bellies of their jobless 'gooks' (priests), filled to the brim ......and overflowing.
Saturday, November 24, 2012
Catholic hypocrisy to the hilt ........
Tabloid reports reveal that more than 100,000 (though that figure is disputed) protestors, organized by Catholic groups staged separate demos in French cities protesting against Government plans to legalize same-sex marriages. Kudos to them for adhering to the Biblical story of Sodom & Gomorrah. (Apparently there are many Elton fans in the French cabinet).
click here to read the story
For all we know the very community they are protesting against may comprise victims of their neighborhood pedophilic Catholic priest, considering the fact that nearly 90% of France is Roman Catholic. As the saying goes, psychologically-damaged individuals make a fertile ground for homosexual tendencies to thrive.
The reports further state that though marching separately, they chanted the same slogan, "ONE FATHER+ONE MOTHER FOR ALL CHILDREN". How touching.
While they're at it, they should also add "NO CHURCH-FATHER OR UNHOLY FATHER (IN THE VATICAN) FOR MY INNOCENT CHILDREN, ONLY HEAVENLY FATHER".
It's grossly hypocritical for these Catholic groups to make a 'song and dance' over a matter that pales in comparison (though it needs serious attention too) to the countless pedophilic acts committed by the so-called people of the cloth while head-honcho 'Benny' (Benedict) sits behind the comfort-zone of the Vat walls, conveniently choosing to keep silent over an issue which has remained unaddressed since the dark ages.
Welcome to another showcase of Catholic hypocrisy to the hilt.
click here to read the story
For all we know the very community they are protesting against may comprise victims of their neighborhood pedophilic Catholic priest, considering the fact that nearly 90% of France is Roman Catholic. As the saying goes, psychologically-damaged individuals make a fertile ground for homosexual tendencies to thrive.
The reports further state that though marching separately, they chanted the same slogan, "ONE FATHER+ONE MOTHER FOR ALL CHILDREN". How touching.
While they're at it, they should also add "NO CHURCH-FATHER OR UNHOLY FATHER (IN THE VATICAN) FOR MY INNOCENT CHILDREN, ONLY HEAVENLY FATHER".
It's grossly hypocritical for these Catholic groups to make a 'song and dance' over a matter that pales in comparison (though it needs serious attention too) to the countless pedophilic acts committed by the so-called people of the cloth while head-honcho 'Benny' (Benedict) sits behind the comfort-zone of the Vat walls, conveniently choosing to keep silent over an issue which has remained unaddressed since the dark ages.
Welcome to another showcase of Catholic hypocrisy to the hilt.
Thursday, November 22, 2012
Virgin Mary transferred while the church readies it's coffers .........
'Mary transferred' to a more 'secure' place (as if she needs taking care of) by people who need to be taken care off, themselves ............
.....click to see the story here.
The reason why the Virgin Mary appeared outside a church is to convey the message that one needn't have to be an 'ordained churclite' to believe in her as she prefers to be seen as a universal symbol (just as Yeshua, her son) and not the sole propriety of the church.
Just as how the good name of Yeshua was usurped by that questionable organization called the church, 1500 years ago, to lend credibility to their skewered Paulinist doctrines, the church once again has usurped the image of the VM from neutral grounds to be placed inside their house of worship to draw attention to themselves, not forgetting the funds, this phenomenon could draw.
Adherents should be urged to flock to this church and get a good glimpse of this image but make all donations to a poor home of their choice and not to that church in question.
It's the only way to see what questionable motives the church has in displaying the image without any explanation as to what were the elements involved that caused the apparition. If it was paint material, then it can be written off. If it was embedded in glass by means not available on this planet, then it's worth a second look.
Adherents would be advised to snap as much pictures as possible as it is feared that it's the only image they will be clinging on to once the image fades as the church environment is not conducive for miraculous phenomena to survive which explains why most miracles happen outside it's vicinity.
Finally, contrary to popular belief that this masterpiece of a song, first written in 1969 (see vid below) was in dedication to the BVM by Beatle Paul, it was in fact (as the Beatle himself pointed out in a later interview) dedicated to his late mother, also named Mary who died of embolism when he (Paul) was 14.
Wednesday, November 21, 2012
ZORRO Truly Unmasked .......
The
latest in a sea of blogging profanity. An opportunistic tirade of
insults directed mainly against Malays as a race and Islam. Hiding
behind that thin veil of opposition to the Barisan government, UMNO and
religious fundamentalism in Malaysia is one Zorro supposedly Unmasked.
WHO LIES BEHIND THAT MASK ?
Bernard Khoo by all reliable accounts was a fully ordained Catholic
De La Salle Brother. A thug and a bully protected by his cassock worn as
a Catholic Brother at the La Salle School Kelang where he taught in the
mid to late 1960’s.
A karate black belt, he assaulted, threatened, vilified, mentally and
physically abused a number of students of that school. His victims
mainly Indians and Malays. All of this he dished out during his tenure
as a Catholic Brother at that school.
Bernard is also vividly remembered by his victims as enforcer to
another Chinese chauvinist of that period, another hoodlum parading as a
missionary at that school. The irascible Reverend Brother John Neo, a
cantankerous individual was the then principal of La Salle School
Kelang.
Collectively they are remembered for their reign of terror and the
resultant psychological damage inflicted on the vulnerable and the weak
in their charge during that period and possibly beyond. To many of their
victims the scars will always remain as an everlasting reminder of
Bernard Khoo, John Neo and their variety of justice, truth and fairness.
NOTHING NOBLE ABOUT THIS ZORRO- HIS ATTITUDE TOWARDS INDIANS AND MALAYS
Bernard Khoo aka Zorro Unmasked had a pre occupation with
intimidation. He, according to the testimony of some of his victims who
won’t forget the man, appeared to derive a perverse sense of
satisfaction and pleasure out of intimidation and bullying of those he
considered weaker and by implication lesser beings than himself.
Children of a lesser god.
Bernard Khoo also willingly undertook that same sadistic ’duty’ on
behalf of his fellow bully and minority tormentor Brother John Neo,
referred to irreverently then by his students as Mao Tze Tung for John
Neo’s proclaimed and unabashed affection and admiration for that late
Chinese dictatorial tyrant.
John Neo was also an ardent admirer of Lee Kuan Yew and the latters
attitude towards Malays. He never gave up an opportunity to espouse the
views of Lee on the Malays and to denegrate Malay students of that time,
much to their embarassment and humiliation, in the presence of their
overwhelming non Malay fellow students.
The Malays (the few who enjoyed the privilege of entry to a Catholic
school) were systematically insulted as was the norm in those days. Such
behaviour was not only practiced by just John Neo and Bernard Khoo. It
was also the staple of some students at the school, encouraged by the
conduct of their peers the Brothers of Bernard Khoo’s ilk.
Admittedly and thankfully so, as relayed to us by former students of
that school, not all Catholic Brothers fell into that category of
pathological racists as John Neo and Bernard Khoo were. But it was
nonetheless not uncommon for the Brotherhood and the Priesthood in
Catholicism to attract a disproportionately large number of these types
from the local communities as recruits to their vocational ranks.
The Malays then were systemically treated as an outcast minority in
these schools (with about 2 allowed in each class) even though their
numbers in the population betrayed the distorted representation in
enrollment of Malays in Catholic and other Christian schools in the
1960′s and 1970′s.
This too in a country, their own, that exclusion being inflicted on
them a majority by a foreign Church preaching fairness and equality,
Christ like charity and love. The same church that is now feigning
outrage at the Al Islam publication of an essay on holy communion.
The Indians, many of whom were Tamils at the time, were a
particularly soft target for physical and mental abuse. They then being
on the lowest rung of the socio economic ladder, were persistently
harassed, demeaned and bullied by Bernard Khoo and his fellow religious
thugs.
There are at least 3 reported suicides amongst Indian workers and
students at that school during that era of Bernard Khoo, John Neo and
Alban Senan although other sources attest to a larger number perhaps
twice that figure given.
They the Tamils did not dare resist Bernard and his cohorts bullying
and assaults for fear of retribution in punitive physical form.
From this champion of freedom and justice they were perhaps instilled
with the power of fear, intimidation and violence as a motivator. A
lesson which some undoubtedly have gone on to take up after leaving
school contributing to the disproportionate numbers from their ranks in
violent crime in Malaysia .
If anyone did dare stand up or resist his bullying and that of yet
another thug of that era, one Brother Alban Senan (an unmitigated,
pathological sadist and racist) they paid a price in unspeakable
humiliation and fear that has indisputably shaped their lives in a
manner the community now lives to regret.
All of this the result of very Christian charitable conduct condoned
and carried out under the watchful eye of the Roman Catholic Church and
the principal of the school Brother John Neo.
Now we bear witness to one of that gang running a website,
regurgitating the profanities of his discredited mantra of anti Islamic
slogans of the Bush era expecting the same unquestioning responses out
of fear through intimidation perhaps from his readers as he demanded of
his young students then.
IS ZORRO’S PAST A REFLECTION OF THE MAN TODAY?
Today Bernard Khoo parades in his new persona as champion of the
causes of missing children, clean government and democratic values. A
noble pursuit indeed if Bernard Khoo did have the personal or moral
integrity to throw stones at a government struggling to come to grips
with its inherited burden of the British Empire the avaricious ingrates
of mainly Chinese (and sprinkling of Indians) left behind at
independence.
Bernard Khoo’s amorphous ideas of corruption and his championing the
cause of children on his website are at best hypocritical, obscene and
as unconvincing an attempt at showing a human face as Adolph Hitler’s
much touted fondness for animals and his vegetarian lifestyle were
attempts to dignify the latters deeds against humanity.
It is also an unwelcome and cruel reminder to those who suffered at
his hands under that reign of tyranny. It has been said by many of his
former victims that he ought to be outed and not trusted with the
welfare or the causes of anyone let alone helpless children.
With his history of traumatising and assaulting minors ( which most
students were at that relevant time) under his care, he has little
credibility if any to take a stand on issues he claims disturb him
enough to want to leave a legacy of change for a better world for his
grandchildren.
Zorrro aka Brother Arnold aka Bernard Khoo’s public posturing on
issues is an insult to children and to right thinking people who seek
refuge from intimidation, bullying, violence and tyranny of every sort.
To allow Bernard Khoo aka Zorro Unmasked to continue with this public
charade of his new persona when, his victims unwittingly have turned
out to be the catalyst and reason perhaps for all that he demands
changed in society today, is to abet the offences of this man’s past.
Bernard Khoo’s idea of welfare and good governance are not compatible
with those universally accepted definitions of those same concepts.
Bernard Khoo has not yet seen it fit to publicly apologise to his
victims for his grievous and criminal misconduct as a religious Brother.
He abused that office of his as a religious Brother and teacher under
the protection of a powerful Catholic church like his mentor Brother
John Neo and the other thug and bully at the time Brother Alban Senan.
CAN A LEOPARD CHANGE ITS SPOTS?
Brother Arnold aka Zorro Unmasked now wants the world to believe he
is some paragon of virtue by calling himself Zorro though still
demonstrating that totalitarian self righteous mindset by excising from
his blog any contribution that is even remotely at variance to his own
chauvinistic views.
He spews his contumely like his other blogger vandals on Malays with
the type of unsubstantiated and unwarranted claims against them he and
his cohorts in the media churn out on a daily basis.
The man needs to be unmasked. He has his coterie of sycophants and
apologists and that’s fine. They include former students who believe
that he is forever entitled to the unquestioning respect he once
fraudulently claimed (or demanded) as a religious Brother and teacher.
And there are those who will seek to at any cost protect the man’s lack
of integrity simply because he held sway over them once and claimed to
be a man of God (ever heard of the battered wife syndrome or the
Stockholm syndrome?). Such are the failings of victims and the impact of
bullying on them.
LEST WE FORGET
But then again there are those, particularly his victims, who are
just as capable as Bernard Khoo is of speaking out to stoke those
sentiments sufficient to rail the public against real hatred, racism and
the prejudices of the type people like Bernard Koo are capable of.
There is a sense of duty in many and it is encouraging to see that
his victims no longer feel the need to suffer as victims and speak out
now decades after the man’s rampage on the weak.
His victims will emerge in larger numbers and expose the root of all
that is dysfunctional in Malaysian society today. That indoctrination
into violence and intimidation imbued in them and sanctified by religion
even though it has for so long been so conveniently swept under the
carpet and given illegitimate credence by that veneer of religious
cover.
Driven by a greater zeal and motivation for justice, these victims
who have voices and who have discovered the power of their voices, come
out to speak with greater conviction than when they don’t speak out and
suffer in silence.
CONCLUSION
This tit for tat is not over by a long shot yet. Malaysians like any
other group have to question the motives of those who stir up trouble
for the slightest cause in a volatile environment as Malaysia is today.
A good starting point for the likes of Bernard Khoo to consider when vilifying others is that old saying “let him that is without sin cast the first stone”. It comes from a religious doctrine Bernard Khoo once subscribed to.
The argument that is raging against the Barisan may be legitimate.
But no one is asking the question, who is the Barisan? Is it just UMNO
or is it UMNO and others such as the MCA and MIC? Is it perhaps also the
unaccountable former deputy finance minister whose husband as owner of a
large public bank benefitted from inside information as a result of her
use of confidential cabinet sensitive information? .
The husband and wife in that particular example are both Chinese.
Is it Samy Velu and corruption of the MAIKA affair during his
stewardship of MIC? or is it the also the elements of MIC whose physical
abuse of an actor turned porn star, or the misappropriation of hundreds
of millions of dollars of money allocated and destined for poorer
Indians.
Samy Velu and the MIC are not Malay either.
Yet no one asks. Who pays the piper playing that ugly tune of anti
Malay anti Muslim sentiments using a small band of disgruntled Malays as
their shield.
No one yet has had the intelligence to query the motives and the
character of those making these bilious and vitriolic statements against
individuals and groups of people like the Malays without a proper
mandate from anyone but themselves, yet claiming to act for the
‘righteous democratic majority’. Yep sure!!
Gopal Raj Kumar
30 Comments on “ZORRO TRULY UNMASKED”
Monday, November 19, 2012
Should we take this as a sign of foreboding ?
 |
| Early morning crow-crap on the rear windscreen of my car.... |
Sunday, November 18, 2012
perhaps a case of spiritual cataractism......
I. When was Jesus born?
A.
Popular myth puts his birth on December 25th
in the year 1 C.E.
B.
The New Testament gives no date or year for Jesus’
birth. The earliest gospel – St. Mark’s, written about 65 CE – begins with the
baptism of an adult Jesus. This suggests that the earliest Christians lacked
interest in or knowledge of Jesus’ birthdate.
C.
The year of Jesus birth was determined by Dionysius
Exiguus, a Scythian monk, “abbot of a Roman monastery. His calculation went as
follows:
a.
In the Roman, pre-Christian era, years were counted from
ab urbe condita (“the founding of the City” [Rome]). Thus 1 AUC
signifies the year Rome was founded, 5 AUC signifies the 5th year of
Rome’s reign, etc.
b. Dionysius received a tradition that the Roman emperor
Augustus reigned 43 years, and was followed by the emperor Tiberius.
c.
Luke 3:1,23 indicates that when Jesus turned 30 years
old, it was the 15th year of Tiberius reign.
d.
If Jesus was 30 years old in Tiberius’ reign, then he
lived 15 years under Augustus (placing Jesus birth in Augustus’ 28th
year of reign).
e.
Augustus took power in 727 AUC. Therefore, Dionysius put
Jesus birth in 754 AUC.
f.
However, Luke 1:5 places Jesus’ birth in the days of
Herod, and Herod died in 750 AUC – four years before the year in which
Dionysius places Jesus birth.
D.
Joseph A. Fitzmyer – Professor Emeritus of Biblical
Studies at the Catholic University of America, member of the Pontifical Biblical
Commission, and former president of the Catholic Biblical Association – writing
in the Catholic Church’s official commentary on the New Testament[1],
writes about the date of Jesus’ birth, “Though the year [of Jesus birth is not
reckoned with certainty, the birth did not occur in AD 1. The Christian era,
supposed to have its starting point in the year of Jesus birth, is based on a
miscalculation introduced ca. 533 by Dionysius Exiguus.”
E.
The DePascha Computus, an anonymous document
believed to have been written in North Africa around 243 CE, placed Jesus
birth on March 28. Clement, a bishop of Alexandria (d. ca. 215 CE), thought
Jesus was born on November 18. Based on historical records, Fitzmyer guesses
that Jesus birth occurred on September 11, 3 BCE.
II.
How Did Christmas Come to Be Celebrated on
December 25?
A. Roman pagans first introduced the holiday of Saturnalia,
a week long period of lawlessness celebrated between December 17-25. During
this period, Roman courts were closed, and Roman law dictated that no one could
be punished for damaging property or injuring people during the weeklong
celebration. The festival began when Roman authorities chose “an enemy of the
Roman people” to represent the “Lord of Misrule.” Each Roman community selected
a victim whom they forced to indulge in food and other physical pleasures
throughout the week. At the festival’s conclusion, December 25th,
Roman authorities believed they were destroying the forces of darkness by
brutally murdering this innocent man or woman.
B.
The ancient Greek writer poet and historian Lucian (in
his dialogue entitled Saturnalia) describes the festival’s observance in
his time. In addition to human sacrifice, he mentions these customs: widespread
intoxication; going from house to house while singing naked; rape and other
sexual license; and consuming human-shaped biscuits (still produced in some
English and most German bakeries during the Christmas season).
C.
In the 4th century CE, Christianity imported
the Saturnalia festival hoping to take the pagan masses in with it. Christian
leaders succeeded in converting to Christianity large numbers of pagans by
promising them that they could continue to celebrate the Saturnalia as
Christians.[2]
D. The problem was that there was nothing intrinsically
Christian about Saturnalia. To remedy this, these Christian leaders named
Saturnalia’s concluding day, December 25th, to be Jesus’ birthday.
E.
Christians had little success, however, refining the
practices of Saturnalia. As Stephen Nissenbaum, professor history at the
University of Massachussetts, Amherst, writes, “In return for ensuring massive
observance of the anniversary of the Savior’s birth by assigning it to this
resonant date, the Church for its part tacitly agreed to allow the holiday to be
celebrated more or less the way it had always been.” The earliest Christmas
holidays were celebrated by drinking, sexual indulgence, singing naked in the
streets (a precursor of modern caroling), etc.
F.
The Reverend Increase Mather of Boston observed in
1687 that “the early Christians who first observed the Nativity on December 25
did not do so thinking that Christ was born in that Month, but because the
Heathens’ Saturnalia was at that time kept in Rome, and they were willing to
have those Pagan Holidays metamorphosed into Christian ones.”[3]
Because of its known pagan origin, Christmas was banned by the Puritans and its
observance was illegal in Massachusetts between 1659 and 1681.[4]
However, Christmas was and still is celebrated by most Christians.
G. Some of the most depraved customs of the Saturnalia
carnival were intentionally revived by the Catholic Church in 1466 when Pope
Paul II, for the amusement of his Roman citizens, forced Jews to race naked
through the streets of the city. An eyewitness account reports, “Before they
were to run, the Jews were richly fed, so as to make the race more difficult for
them and at the same time more amusing for spectators. They ran… amid
Rome’s taunting shrieks and peals of laughter, while the Holy Father stood upon
a richly ornamented balcony and laughed heartily.”[5]
H.
As part of the Saturnalia carnival throughout the 18th
and 19th centuries CE, rabbis of the ghetto in Rome were
forced to wear clownish outfits and march through the city streets to the jeers
of the crowd, pelted by a variety of missiles. When the Jewish community of Rome
sent a petition in1836 to Pope Gregory XVI begging him to stop the annual
Saturnalia abuse of the Jewish community, he responded, “It is not opportune to
make any innovation.”[6]
On December 25, 1881, Christian leaders whipped the Polish masses into
Antisemitic frenzies that led to riots across the country. In Warsaw 12 Jews
were brutally murdered, huge numbers maimed, and many Jewish women were raped.
Two million rubles worth of property was destroyed.
III.
The Origins of Christmas Customs
A.
The Origin of Christmas Tree
Just as early Christians recruited Roman pagans by associating Christmas with the Saturnalia, so too worshippers of the Asheira cult and its offshoots were recruited by the Church sanctioning “Christmas Trees”.[7] Pagans had long worshipped trees in the forest, or brought them into their homes and decorated them, and this observance was adopted and painted with a Christian veneer by the Church.
Just as early Christians recruited Roman pagans by associating Christmas with the Saturnalia, so too worshippers of the Asheira cult and its offshoots were recruited by the Church sanctioning “Christmas Trees”.[7] Pagans had long worshipped trees in the forest, or brought them into their homes and decorated them, and this observance was adopted and painted with a Christian veneer by the Church.
B.
The Origin of Mistletoe
Norse mythology recounts how the god Balder was killed using a mistletoe arrow by his rival god Hoder while fighting for the female Nanna. Druid rituals use mistletoe to poison their human sacrificial victim.[8] The Christian custom of “kissing under the mistletoe” is a later synthesis of the sexual license of Saturnalia with the Druidic sacrificial cult.[9]
Norse mythology recounts how the god Balder was killed using a mistletoe arrow by his rival god Hoder while fighting for the female Nanna. Druid rituals use mistletoe to poison their human sacrificial victim.[8] The Christian custom of “kissing under the mistletoe” is a later synthesis of the sexual license of Saturnalia with the Druidic sacrificial cult.[9]
C.
The Origin of Christmas Presents
In pre-Christian Rome, the emperors compelled their most despised citizens to bring offerings and gifts during the Saturnalia (in December) and Kalends (in January). Later, this ritual expanded to include gift-giving among the general populace. The Catholic Church gave this custom a Christian flavor by re-rooting it in the supposed gift-giving of Saint Nicholas (see below).[10]
In pre-Christian Rome, the emperors compelled their most despised citizens to bring offerings and gifts during the Saturnalia (in December) and Kalends (in January). Later, this ritual expanded to include gift-giving among the general populace. The Catholic Church gave this custom a Christian flavor by re-rooting it in the supposed gift-giving of Saint Nicholas (see below).[10]
D.
The Origin of Santa Claus
a.
Nicholas was born in Parara, Turkey in 270 CE and
later became Bishop of Myra. He died in 345 CE on December 6th. He
was only named a saint in the 19th century.
b.
Nicholas was among the most senior bishops who convened
the Council of Nicaea in 325 CE and created the New Testament. The text they
produced portrayed Jews as “the children of the devil”[11]
who sentenced Jesus to death.
c.
In 1087, a group of sailors who idolized Nicholas moved
his bones from Turkey to a sanctuary in Bari, Italy. There Nicholas
supplanted a female boon-giving deity called The Grandmother, or Pasqua
Epiphania, who used to fill the children's stockings with her gifts. The
Grandmother was ousted from her shrine at Bari, which became the center of the
Nicholas cult. Members of this group gave each other gifts during a pageant
they conducted annually on the anniversary of Nicholas’ death, December 6.
d.
The Nicholas cult spread north until it was adopted by
German and Celtic pagans. These groups worshipped a pantheon led by Woden
–their chief god and the father of Thor, Balder, and Tiw. Woden had a long,
white beard and rode a horse through the heavens one evening each Autumn. When
Nicholas merged with Woden, he shed his Mediterranean appearance, grew a beard,
mounted a flying horse, rescheduled his flight for December, and donned heavy winter clothing.
e.
In a bid for pagan adherents in Northern Europe,
the Catholic Church adopted the Nicholas cult and taught that he did (and they
should) distribute gifts on December 25th instead of December 6th.
f.
In 1809, the novelist Washington Irving (most famous his
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Rip Van Winkle) wrote a satire of
Dutch culture entitled Knickerbocker History. The satire refers several
times to the white bearded, flying-horse riding Saint Nicholas using his Dutch
name, Santa Claus.
g.
Dr. Clement Moore, a professor at Union Seminary, read
Knickerbocker History, and in 1822 he published a poem based on the
character Santa Claus: “Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the
house, not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse. The stockings were hung
by the chimney with care, in the hope that Saint Nicholas soon would be there…”
Moore innovated by portraying a Santa with eight reindeer who descended
through chimneys.
h.
The Bavarian illustrator Thomas Nast almost completed the
modern picture of Santa Claus. From 1862 through 1886, based on Moore’s
poem, Nast drew more than 2,200 cartoon images of Santa for Harper’s Weekly.
Before Nast, Saint Nicholas had been pictured as everything from a stern looking
bishop to a gnome-like figure in a frock. Nast also gave Santa a home at the
North Pole, his workshop filled with elves, and his list of the good and bad
children of the world. All Santa was missing was his red outfit.
i.
In 1931, the Coca Cola Corporation contracted the
Swedish commercial artist Haddon Sundblom to create a coke-drinking
Santa. Sundblom
modeled his Santa on his friend Lou Prentice, chosen for his cheerful,
chubby
face. The corporation insisted that Santa’s fur-trimmed suit be bright,
Coca
Cola red. And Santa was born – a blend of Christian crusader, pagan
god, and
commercial idol.
IV. The Christmas Challenge
·
Christmas has always been a holiday celebrated
carelessly. For millennia, pagans, Christians, and even Jews have been swept
away in the season’s festivities, and very few people ever pause to consider the
celebration’s intrinsic meaning, history, or origins.
· Christmas celebrates the birth of the Christian
god who came to rescue mankind from the “curse of the Torah.” It is a 24-hour
declaration that Judaism is no longer valid.
·
Christmas is a lie. There is no Christian church
with a tradition that Jesus was really born on December 25th.
·
December 25 is a day on which Jews have been
shamed, tortured, and murdered.
·
Many of the most popular Christmas customs –
including Christmas trees, mistletoe, Christmas presents, and Santa Claus – are
modern incarnations of the most depraved pagan rituals ever practiced on earth.
Many who are excitedly preparing
for their Christmas celebrations would prefer not knowing about the holiday’s
real significance. If they do know the history, they often object that their
celebration has nothing to do with the holiday’s monstrous history and meaning.
“We are just having fun.”
Imagine that between 1933-45, the Nazi regime celebrated Adolf Hitler’s birthday
– April 20 – as a holiday. Imagine that they named the day, “Hitlerday,” and
observed the day with feasting, drunkenness, gift-giving, and various pagan
practices. Imagine that on that day, Jews were historically subject to perverse
tortures and abuse, and that this continued for centuries.
Now, imagine that your great-great-great-grandchildren were about to celebrate
Hitlerday. April 20th arrived. They had long forgotten about
Auschwitz and Bergen Belsen. They had never heard of gas chambers or death
marches. They had purchased champagne and caviar, and were about to begin the
party, when someone reminded them of the day’s real history and their ancestors’
agony. Imagine that they initially objected, “We aren’t celebrating the
Holocaust; we’re just having a little Hitlerday party.” If you could travel
forward in time and meet them; if you could say a few words to them, what would
you advise them to do on Hitlerday?
On December 25, 1941, Julius
Streicher, one of the most vicious of Hitler’s assistants, celebrated Christmas
by penning the following editorial in his rabidly Antisemitic newspaper, Der
Stuermer:
If one really wants to put an
end to the continued prospering of this curse from heaven that is the Jewish
blood, there is only one way to do it: to eradicate this people, this Satan’s
son, root and branch.
It was an appropriate thought for
the day. This Christmas, how will we celebrate?
AUTHOR: LAWRENCE
KELEMEN
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Hm.. chill lah.. get a chinese friend and maybe you will find not all of them are evil.
We have taken complaints from his former students some saying we were too lenient others who provided extreme examples of his and his cohorts conduct against students whilst others still think we have been unfair to target him (Bernard Khoo). Unless we are able to verify these we will not publish and reserve these postings for a later date.
Whats interesting about this particular post is that it has now also raised the hidden taboo issue of padeophilia by priests and brothers during that era. Not in Kelang but elsewhere. We will continue to investigate and keep you posted.
GRK
@ GRK
Pls keep us informed on this matter. I knew that old man has skeletons in his closet.
A definite great read…:)
-Bill-Bartmann
A Malaysian Malay
As to the issues you have raised on the Chan critique, let me categorically and unequivocally put to rest your feeble claim that the man put proof to his assertions. His reference to cases and to quotes are embellishments and adornments which a good substantive argument does not need.
Verbose, well my friend perhaps you ought to find the definition of verbose and apply it where it belongs in the pejorative you apply to me. Chan failed to identify the core principle on the question of the Sultan’s discretion. The arguments he raises does not get up for his failure in this regard to identify the core issues of the argument on the crisis. To quote archaic and irrlevant English Law Lords in his inimicable ‘kow towing’ style is embarassing. He has led nothing of substance that could do him or his argument any justice.
A judge who fails the primary test of impartiality by entering into a debate of a political nature and does so with little substance other than unimpressive irrelevant quotes deserves to have strips torn of his back. It is not what I did. I wish I could though. Another time another place.
Chan’s arguments have been published in many forms. None of them worthy of redemption. Fire your best shot. Identify the substantive argument in mine that you find wanting in.
Gopal Raj Kumar
Is somehow having the addiction of posting the same thing at all websites and blogs he visitied…
is he really is a Malaysian Malay??
Like so many today, you use racism to denigrate a person thinking that people will fall for it. Tell us in plain english where and how Bernard Khoo aka Zorro unmasked ultra vires the Indians, Malays and Islam. I bet that you can’t, because it never happened. You are just seeking cheap publicity!
I would not be too surprised if you were some UMNO blogger in disguise trying to bring down a popular blogger held in high esteem by many. And make no mistake, you will fail miserably!!
dpp
We are all of 1 race, the Human Race
now whether he groped them or not I am not sure but I have heard from elsewhere that he was a bully in school, students hated his ‘over-compensating’ ways
All one really needs to be able to establish truth of the accusations directed against Bernard Khoo is one of these to be substantiated. Just one. We still welcome his rebuttals as he is entitled to.
can you dig up on haris ibrahim too?
Do you have relevant and compelling evidence against Zorro Unmasked aka Bernard Khoo?
Tawil was a head prefect. A man of Indonesian origins. The information we have is that he was deliberately selected and given the task of making public announcements as well so that he could be ridiculed which he was for his English.
It was apparently John Neos way of allowing the others to very subtely reinforce the idea that Malays were not very bright or were undeserving of the NEP (or its equivalent then).
Anyway the position of head prefect was never one to hi lite leadership characteristics of the individual. It was never based on merit and their choices were never the best we are told.
As to the other aspects of your comments there are racists everywhere, but that does not mean they ought to go unchecked especially where they make allegations of others’ shortcommings in this respect.
Thank you for your comments
GRK
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.
I don’t care if you read or publish this but your action shows yourself.
My question to u on the 3rd article which u choose to publish is standing.
Thanks mate for the expose. Tha’s a load off my shoulders.
tim
There is also in fairness to the church a history of excellent and selfless work by missionaries. Most of these whether we like it or not were from the European, English and Irish who had genuine vocations that drove them into educating the vulnerable and the weak. Brother Arnold had another offsider or like minded thug we are now pursuing for another reason. Alban Senan we are told is of Burmese descent. We have had the bile of his sychophants spliied on us. which we do not bother publishing because none of it is supported by evidence.
Zorro is pathetic and a man without any cause, creed or character. He fills his time ranting and raving like that other lunatic on the run who believes himself to be a reincarnation of Joan of Arc or Robin Hood, Raja Petra Kamaruddin. Full of pious platitudes. he has not found in him the capaccity to at last ask for forgiveness of those he abused. He does not believe in the benefit of the doubt and neither will we.
Forgiveness can only come with true repentance. His deeds were not isolated ones. They were part of his daily diet.
GRK
I was in La Salle Klang 1958 – 1968.
I am still emotionally scarred! Does anybody recall Brother Martin, the irish tyrant who had a Chinese nickname? Again he destroyed 2 years of our precious life in Standard 5 and 6
and his pathetic sense of self righteousness and morality. These tyrants
brought the whole idea of the Christian missions into disrepute by polluting
the well of human kindness that they were meant to share with others and mould them
into righteous men and women of good standing in our communities everywhere.
Pity.
GRK
GRK
It is high time you outed that buffoon Haris Ibrahim and teh snake Malik Imtiaz Server.
One is a buffoon (a villainous one) of quixotic dimensions and the other the very sone of the serpent.
keep taking out the trash!
Nik Netanyahu