Hidden History of Christianity
17 This chapter relates to the lesser-known secrets hidden in Christianity s history. 2As the largest and most powerful religion in the world, it is only fair to give it a little extra scrutiny.
3Several different topics are going to be covered in this section, which have deliberately been kept from the public eye, primarily for political reasons.
4The fact that certain issues are disputed by Bible scholars may be due to genuine inaccuracies or simply because 2,000 years of disinformation has made it virtually impossible for Church members to see the truth. 51n other words, though some of these ideas are disputed, there is no way to know whether there is valid reason to disbelieve them or whether we are still being deliberately led astray by the Church.
6At this point it's best you approach this with a critical and open mind.
Was Jesus Married?
7As the central figure in all of Christianity, the nature of Jesus s life should be looked at with extra care. BOne of the biggest mysteries surrounding Jesus is whether he was married or not. 9Typical Biblical history says that he was not, yet many clues have been uncovered that suggest he may have been. 10And his most likely wife was Mary Magdalene.
11Even when you start to look through some of the hidden texts that have been excluded from the Bible, you still do not come up with any real proof one way or the other, though there are many curious things with regard to Jesus and Mary that can t be ignored.
12The apocryphal Gospel of Philip has many statements that provide further potential proof of Mary's relationship with Jesus. 13There he states that Mary was Jesus s companion and that he loved her more than all the disciples. 14There is even a declaration that he often kissed her.
15A recently discovered scrap of papyrus has helped add fuel to this debate. 16Known as the Gospel of Jesus s Wife , this fragment contains an incomplete statement that reads, Jesus said to them, my wife... 171t is written in Egyptian Coptic but was likely translated from earlier texts in Greek. 1BThe Vatican claims that the document is a fake, but coming from them this is hardly surprising.
19As someone with esoteric knowledge, Leonardo Da Vinci also has a little additional proof for us. 20The painting of The Last Supper is believed to hold a few clues about Mary if you know where to l ook. 21The person sitting directly to Jesus s right is extremely feminine looking and some have speculated that Da Vinci painted in Mary to hint at her prominent role amongst his followers. 221t could mean that Mary actually sat on Jesus s right hand at the supper, or perhaps that the painter included a subtle hint of a truth that has otherwise been hidden.
23And of course, if Jesus was married then you have to consider if he had any children. 24Though there is little concrete proof, some suggest that he did have children and that his family line has continued to exist to this day. 25The story goes that Jesus and Mary had a daughter named Sarah who would go on to have children of her own. 26Today, the family line is thought to exist in the Merovingian dynasty of Europe. 27A society known as the Priory of Sion allegedly exists to protect this line and the secret of Jesus s offspring.
28So why hide any of this? 29When the Church decided that Jesus was a divine being, the idea of him being married or a father was considered contradictory to the message. 30It is said that, as a result, any statements or writings that depict Jesus as an ordinary man were undesirable to say the least. 31This is the real reason why many books were removed from the Bible.
32What about his ancestors? 33In order for Jesus to fulfil the prophesied role of the Messiah, he had to be a direct descendant of King David. 34Two different genealogies are given in the Bible which contradict one another, but the common belief is that one is his history through Joseph (legal but not biological) and the other is through Mary. 35In any case, they both lead back to the legendary King David. 360f course, the history given that is supposedly through Mary doesn't actually say so, but starts with Jesus, son of Joseph, son of Heli... (Luke 3:23). 37If you follow this line of thinking, you come to the bigger question of whether King David ever existed at all. 38There are only a few books dedicated to his story in the Bible and outside of this, there is scant proof that he ever existed.
Appearance
39There is another aspect of Jesus – of equal importance – that we haven t touched on yet: his appearance. 40So many modern paintings of Jesus depict him with particularly distinct facial features.
41Jesus was of Jewish descent. 42His appearance was different from typical European Caucasians, which was considered to be inappropriate by Pope Alexander VI. 43In order to give the religion mass appeal, it was decided in the late 1400s to depict him as more Caucasian-looking than Semitic. 44Alexander decided that his own son, Cesare Borgia, would be the perfect model for the new look. 45This is still considered a historical theory, but since Borgia was known to be a close associate of Leonardo da Vinci, there is a definite possibility that this is true. 46In any case, it's impossible that the contemporary depictions of Jesus are accurate, as he was not of Italian-Spanish descent.
The Nature of the Holy Grail
47It might be a little surprising to see an Arthurian reference here, but it does squarely connect with the history of Jesus. 48Interesting how so many myths and tales are intertwined, isn t it?
49In older, pre-Christian times, the symbol of the chalice represented the Divine Feminine and the sword stood for the Divine Masculine. 50They were both equal in power in the times before Christianity took hold. 51Perhaps the famous holy grail was never a truly physical cup at all, but a symbol that represented the female side of God which has been hidden for so long.
52This is really an extension of the above theories of the relationship between Jesus and Mary. 53Her role in his life has been suppressed for so long that it has taken on a life of its own, becoming something that needs to be sought after and rediscovered.
Suppression of Scriptures
54Another curious part of Christian history is how (and why) so many texts that were written about Jesus s life and times were simply not added or removed from the Bible.
55The idea of the Apocrypha isn t cut and dried, because different versions of the Bible have included different portions over the years. 56For the purpose of this discussion, the point is more about why certain writings were excluded rather than the specifics of which ones were left out.
57In modern times, there have been great discoveries of apocryphal documents, many written during the period of Jesus, though many written much later. 58In 1945, a collection of thirteen codices containing over fifty texts was discovered in upper Egypt, which has come to be known as the Nag Hammadi library. 59Experts have suggested that these belonged to a nearby Pachomian monastery, and were buried after Bishop Athanasius condemned the use of non-canonical books in his Festal Letter of 367 AD. 60This has given us a chance to see many of the writings that were rejected as canon or otherwise kept separate from the official Bible.
61Many of these texts are considered closer to gnostic teachings (relating to, or possessing intellectual or spiritual knowledge) than to true Christianity, and that is very likely why they were shunned.
62Metaphysical concepts that went against the standard dogma of the time were not wanted, even though dozens of documents had these themes.
63And as mentioned already, documents that allude to the mortal nature of Jesus s life may have been removed in order to help create the mythical version of Christ that the Church wished to promote.
64There will also many forms and types of Christianity with various teachings, which the early Church wished to silence in order to form a single religion.
65For a text that is supposedly inspired by God, there was a lot of human editing going on over the centuries. 66Most of these extraneous texts are now available to the public through online sources, so you can read for yourself what kinds of material were deemed undesirable by the Church of the past.
67You might be shocked at what you find.
Hidden ‘Societies and Power Brokers
680ne of the unfortunate facts about mainstream religion is that many decisions are made to gain power rather than because of any true spiritual foundations. 69Whether it be financial or political, the need for more power often drives the acts of major churches, a fact they don t want to advertise. 70As such, many secretive branches develop in order to pursue these agendas out of sight. 71Some of these societies are official (with their agenda hidden) whilst others remain in the shadows, outside of any actual church.
72Here are a few of the more noteworthy societies, though their very nature as being secret does make it difficult to get any accurate or revealing information about them.
73When it comes to controversial theories about secret groups, the Freemasons are almost certainly the first group you think of. 74Though there are religious overtones and associations within the Masons, they are not officially connected to any major church. 75They are a completely independent society, and one that has connections through politics and history. 76In fact, they are sometimes condemned by the Catholic Church (possibly because the Church doesn't like such powerful competition?). 77The Freemasons are a fraternal organisation (for men only), and they operate with a great deal of ritual that is not known outside the group. 78Their symbolism is taken from the field of architecture and construction as an allegory for the building of Solomon s Temple.
79With a number of prominent political figures as members, you can t help but wonder about its influence in major national issues as well. 80Known Freemasons include:
i. Benjamin Franklin ii. Gerald Ford
iii. Buzz Aldrin
iv. Andrew Jackson
v. Gen. Douglas MacArthur
vi. Paul Revere
vii. Franklin Roosevelt
viii George Washington
ix. Harry S Truman
81Many figures from early American history were involved in the Freemasons, so you can see how the formation of the entire country could have been influenced by Masonic ideals and their own political agenda.
82Within the Catholic Church, one of the more contemporary secretive groups is the Prelature of the Holy Cross and Opus Dei , also just know as Opus Dei (which is Latin for work of God ). 83Though their official position is that an ordinary life can be holy, the group has an unusually high level of secrecy about it. 84The group maintains extremely strict rules for members, has a notable disrespect towards women and many members practice the use of bodily flagellation as a method for atoning sins. 85A very wealthy group, there is a great deal of concern about how much influence they have within the Church and to what direction they wish to push it.
86And no discussion of secret societies would be complete without talking about the infamous Knights Templar. 87They are a mysterious group from the Middle Ages that has further connections with the Arthurian Grail legends. 88The Knights were created as a military order during the time of the Crusades, and considered to be the most highly trained of all those who fought. 89When Jerusalem was lost, they quickly fell out of favour with the Church and claims of heresy and scandal led to the immediate dissolution of the Knights. 90Many were burned for their supposed crimes.
91Due to their inexplicable end, theories about Knights persist today and there are beliefs that some survived to continue their brotherhood to this day.
92There are rumours that they discovered something while in the Holy Land under Solomon s temple that led the Church to move in and silence them so brutally. 93Could it have been the Holy Grail? 94And if it was, wouldn t that possibly add credence to the theory that the Grail is more than a mere cup?
951t s just another layer of mystery waiting to be solved.
Shrouded in Secrecy
96For such a powerful and widespread religion, Christianity seems to have more than its fair share of secrecy and controversy. 970ne has to wonder whether it would have taken off as it did if all the truth had been laid out from the start? 98Just how much about this religion can really be trusted?