All  

Ancient Origins Tour IRAQ

Ancient Origins Tour IRAQ Mobile

La conversion de Saint Paul by Luca Giordano (1690), Museum of Fine Arts of Nancy. (Public Domain)

The First Prophets: Inside The Minds Of The World’s Oldest Religious Founders

Print

"Let us be quiet, that we may hear the whispers of the gods." This quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson hints at the subjective experience of religious revelation - the revealing of a higher truth to a messenger by a supernatural deity. Religion is one of humankind's oldest and most important developments, and it has been studied from many perspectives: sociological, neurological, anthropological, and through evolutionary psychology. Despite its often destructive results, religion was originally intended to be beneficial, instructive, and hopeful.

Yet one still knows very little of how the first founders of the world's great religions actually thought. They all claimed to have experienced a religious revelation, beginning more than three millennia ago. What is at the heart of such experiences? Could there be a common mechanism at work in the minds of these great religious founders? This is difficult to gauge, as in many cases one has no reliable accounts of the lives of these individuals.

Moses with the Tables of the Law by Guido Reni (1624) Galleria Borghese (Public Domain)

Nonetheless, this paucity of information should not dissuade one from trying to develop insight into their minds. What if a common psychological mechanism was operating within these pioneering people, a syncretistic mechanism that emerged under conditions of physiological stress and cognitive dissonance? Their minds culminated and reorganized numerous older beliefs in profound new ways, reconciling their conflict and ultimately convincing themselves that they had been visited by a deity with a new message of hope for humanity.

Revelation versus Religious Syncretism

Ever since religions first emerged, they have interacted and joined features to create further religious vehicles. This process is called syncretism and is defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as the " attempted union or reconciliation of diverse or opposite tenets or practices, especially in philosophy or religion". Generally understood to act over a long time on large populations, examples include Caribbean Santeria and Japanese Shinto-Buddhism.

Statue of Hermanubis, (First – Second Century AD) Vatican Museums (Colin / CC BY-SA 3.0)

Statue of Hermanubis, (First – Second Century AD) Vatican Museums (Colin / CC BY-SA 3.0)

More ancient examples include the combining of the Egyptian gods Amun and Ra, Osiris and Ptah, the Canaanite gods Baal and Zephon, and later Egyptian-Greek gods, such as Serapis (Osiris and Apis) and Hermanubis (Hermes and Anubis).

READ MORE…

Like this Preview and want to read on? You can! JOIN US THERE with easy, instant access ) and see what you’re missing!! All Premium articles are available in full, with immediate access.

For the price of a cup of coffee, you get this and all the other great benefits at Ancient Origins Premium. And - each time you support AO Premium, you support independent thought and writing.

Jonathon Perrin is a petroleum geologist who has helped excavate numerous prehistoric Native sites in Canada. With a degree in geology and archaeology, his passion is writing about ancient mysteries and uncovering the subverted truths of history. He is the author of Moses Restored: The Oldest Religious Secret Never Told, available in print or as an e-book from Amazon.com.

Top Image: La conversion de Saint Paul by Luca Giordano (1690), Museum of Fine Arts of Nancy. (Public Domain)

By Jonathon Perrin

 

Comments

Hello Mr. Jonathon,

I got so excited by the Moses DNA on Finding your Root's; that I forgot to discuss, The Prophet Daniel. No Daniel wasn't featured on Finding your Root's just note that Daniel is a Levite and that his former residence was once Jerusalem The City of David. Daniel's testimony begins at the Height of the Babylonian Captivity or as it is known The Babylonian Exile around 605, B.C.E .

In the case of Prophets it seems that the Outside World looking in whether through sociological or psychological how much of a Prophet's words is fact and how much of a Prophet's Word is False.

Therefore, no need to believe in any prophet's words as Truth for The Sociologist and Psychologist looks at Prophecies from the aspect of and Logical Lens. As I said The Bible is a Book of The Impossible; Reason and logic is great, but, one tends to Miss the message if that is the only way you can visualize a Prophecy; it also comes down to Human Being's testing God and trust me that is Nothing New PEOPLE have been Testing God since Eden.

So allow me to introduce a Prophecy from Daniel (in Hebrew Daniel means Vindication), afterwards I can show that The Prophecy in Daniel did come to fruition and because of History which is a Window in to a whole other World, and what came to pass well; I'd say repeated testing of God, is overkill.

So the question is what was The Prophecy in Daniel? How did it all play out? The Prophecy can be found in Daniel chapter 2. Oh by the way Daniel is full of Prophecies so I'll talk about the first one.

Throughout The Old Testament in to The New Testament a Word is spoken of in an matter-of-fact tone and that is "Covenant" A Covenant is a Promise from God but, it is also a binding agreement between to or More parties on what each party brings to the table and agrees about. There's several examples throughout the scriptures; where God establishes, "A Covenant" with PEOPLE (Adam in Hebrew means PEOPLE) The 1st Recorded Covenant was with Adam & Eve with love Dad and Mom. In this Covenant God informs them of The Redeemer Jesus who will eventually come to Save us all from Sin for with Sin comes the penalty of Death.

The 2nd Covenant is made with Noah, with God Promising to Never Destory the World with Water and placing The Rainbow as a Sign of This Promise.

The 3rd Covenant God made was with Abraham The Father of all 3 Western Monotheistic Faith's Christianity, Islam, and Judaism. This was the Covenant....

Genesis Chapter 12: 2-3

"Get out of your country,
From your kindred
and your father's house
to a land I will Show You.

I will make you a great nation; I will bless you
and make your name great; and You Shall be a Blessing.
I will bless those who bless You and Curse Those who Curse You. And In you all the families of The Earth shall be blessed.
So Abraham is who Jesus The Redeemer Came From.

So those are just 3 examples from The Bible involving God Establishing Covenant's with People.

This very same Pattern is seen in Daniel however I'd would advise people to look at This Particular Covenant from God as a Contract to The Earth.

Getting back to Daniel chapter 2 and The Statue.

The Statue is described as follows....

Head of Gold
Chest & Arms of Silver
The Waist of Brass (Bronze)
Legs of Iron
Feet of Iron and Clays
A great Rock smashes the Statue and the wind blows the Statues dust away The Rock in the Place of the statue begins to grow, and grow till It Fills The Earth Up.

The Head of Gold is The Babylonian Empire the 1st of The Great Empire's to rise.
The Chest of Arms and Silver is The Medo-Persian Empire
The Waist of Brass is Greece and of course No Surprise The Legs of Iron is Rome as in The Roman Empire but, feet of Iron and Clay represents The Decline of The Roman Empire splitting and two Powers sitting on 2 Thrones remember? There was a Western Roman Empire and a Eastern Roman Empire till both sides eventually Collapsed and became a Distant Memory during The Dark Ages.

The meaning of The Statue is that after the fall of the last Empire which was Rome People in the future will arise and try and put the Babylonian Empire back together again they will try through War & Intermarriage but, in God's Covenant, God's Contract to The Earth They Will Not Succeed in this Endeavour.

Just like The Prophecy with The Statue in Daniel those 3 Empires did rise why Daniel was alive to see The Second Empire Medo-Persia invade Babylon led by Cyrus the Great of the Persians and The Medes by King Darius.

Under King Nebuchadnezzar whom God allowed to rule.
Ruled from 605 B.C.-530 B.C. Babylon lasted 70 Week's for the Record 70 Weeks in The Bible is 70 Year's.

In turn The Medo-Persian Empire would go on to rule from 530 B.C. to 331 B.C.

Greece led by Alexander the Great and 3 of his General's like Ptolomey for example, would rule The World from 331 B.C. to 168 B.C.

Last Empire Rome they would rule 168 B.C to 476 A.D. Christianity and Islam is The Rock that fills the whole Earth and everlasting Kingdom That will never be destroyed.

Rome in the End of its dwindling power splits into two separate Powers The Western Empire followed by The Eastern Roman Empire.

The People that arises to Attempt to Put The Babylonian Empire.

Charlemagne
William the Conqueror (or better William the Bloody)
The King Henry's
The King Louis
The King Richard's
The King Edward's

The Hundred Year War and may I say this was The Biggest Try recorded.

During the Hundred Year War between England and France over The Dispute of The Throne everyone picked Their allies to aid Them. King Richard chose Spain. King Richard married his 11 year old daughter Joan to The Prince of Spain but, then something happened no one human saw coming The Black Death killed princess Joan the King's favorite child in addition to The Black Prince of Wales.

God's Contract in Daniel is that they will Try to but, Won't succeed in putting The Babylonian Empire back together again. Okay, so I have another example; this was by intermarriage. King Henry VIII and His Marriage to Queen Katherine of Aragon (wow another Spain Marriage) How many son's did she give birth to? None survive correct accept for Mary the Daughter.

God is still a God of Justice what was done to Queen Katherine was most disappearing equate it with The Sin of David with Bathsheba. That is why Anne the 2nd wife's Son's didn't survive their Births either. Plus, God promoted
Elizabeth I to sit on the Throne of ÷England.

Let's see is there anyone else who attempted this feat?

Napoleon Bonaparte a storm blew up right when He was attempting another Conquer.
and those maniac's Adolph Hitler & Benito Mussolini.
Hitler believed with The Tanks he could conquer Russia then came the freezing Snowstorm conquer is now over.

Even now people out there are still attempting this feat and they too will fail. That comes from My Faith in God in All Thing's.

Hi Mr. Jonathon,

Browsing through a variety of Articles The Old Prophets of much older Religion's drew me in.

So what are my thoughts on the subject?

I was read The Bible when I was little my favorite Bible Testimony is Jonah and when I began learning how to read I made sure to read The Bible for myself. Jonah remained my favorite Bible Story.

I can't say to much on The Other Religion's that are out there likewise, Buddhism, Hinduism because of well I'm simply not as informed in that particular arena.

I noticed in the article a painting of Moses.

The same Moses claimed by Judaism, Christianity, and Islam as The greatest Prophet ever. I mean who hasn't watched The Ten Commandment's movie?

Being a Believer in time you learn to live by Faith and not by Sight, in my case I see The Bible as a Book of The Impossible and that it all comes down to that Individual so who ever reads whatever Holy Sacred Writings and comes to believe in that said Holy Scriptures to be true They are in essence Saying Yes to the Impossible. That the Impossible can happen.

That is how I saw it with The Story of Moses.

A year ago I watched this program on PBS it's tools are History Oral History and Science using DNA. The name of The Program Finding Your Root's Hosted by Dr. Henry Louis Gates. Jr.

The way Finding your Root's work is well-known PEOPLE come on to the show to find out who they are first by Family History, like for example The Family Stories that were past down then by paper trail History followed by The Results of one's DNA which tells you WHO THEY ARE. True Dr. Gates. Jr did start with African American's Ms. Oprah Winfrey, Ms. Whoopi Goldberg, and The Comedian Chris Tucker.

Now Dr. Gates. Jr has branched off Finding the Roots of those who aren't African American. I can remember this one segment Dr. Gates. Jr did The Italian American Actress Marissa Tomi His team discovered although she was Italian Ancestry somehow Her DNA was linked to The Actress Julian Moore whose Ancestry is from Scotland. The scientists were puzzled by this connection because there's nothing there at the moment to indicate how and why they're linked.

Frankly I have a idea why Marissa Tomi and Julian Moore is linked by DNA making them Cousin's but, I have a feeling no one wants to consider that avenue.

So what does Finding your Roots has to do with The Prophet's chiefly The Biblical Prophet's?

As I said last year I saw a Finding your Root's that both surprised Me and filled me with Joy.

This Hollywood Producer of Sociological, and Political Comedies on Television in the 70's and early 1980's, Norman Lear participated in Finding your Root's wanted to know who He was.

Oh right Norman Lear T.V. Comedies...

All in the Family (Archie Bunker),
Sanford & Son (Red Fox) famous African American Comedian
Maud (Beatrice Arthur before Golden Girls),
Good Time's (John Amos/Jimmy Walker)
The Jefferson's (introduced on All in the Family Sherman Hemsley)

Fried Green Tomatoes The Movie (Executive Producer)

Through Norman Lear's biological father by a Great-grandfather of his whose head stone in a Jewish Cemetery in Russia inscripted unfortunately can't remember the first name but, the Middle and last name sticks out the most to me...

Kotath Levi just to make sure that I heard right I watched Finding your Root's at 11:00 p.m. once more yes the Middle Name and Last Name showed on the Headstone Kotath Levi.

Norman Lear is a Levite which means that their Ancestor Levi the 3rd Son of Israel and Leah-Grandson of Isaac and Rebekkah, Great-Nephew to Ishmael please note Islam within the name and even more important Levi is The Great-grandson of Abraham and Sarah. There's DNA evidence that Abraham walked the Earth.

Going back to Levi father of The Levites God Anointed and Ordained The Levites to be The Pastor's, The Minister's, and Prophet's of all Israel there is only one time where God selected a Prophet not of The Levites in 1st King's of The Old Testament Elisha but, He was still and Israelite no tribe is given who Elisha came from. Back to the Levites you see The Kotathites were Ordained by God to Carry The Ark of the Covenant Chest on Their shoulders (so if Norman Lear's family walks out the house and sees The Ark of the Covenant Chest they'll know why), In Joshua Kotathites stood in the River Jordan with The Covenant on Their Shoulders till All of Israel crossed over in to The Promised Land Canaan. The Kotathites carried the Ark of the Covenant Chest on Their shoulders when Joshua and all of Israel Marched around the Walls of Jericho.

Now just like the triumphs are made known in The Bible so are The Infamous times captured.

About the 38th year of Israel's Sentenced by God to wander in The Desert for 40 year's, A Rebellion against God and Moses is ignited by a man named Korah. Korah believed that he would be a more effective leader than Moses. His ambitious dream's were ended by God.

God executed Korah and 3000 of his supporters' beginning with The Tribe of Reuben led by their Tribal Leader Dathan (remember Dathan in Ten Commandment's?). Just like The Movie Ten Commandment's portrayed....oh by the way did, I mention that you can find, The Rebellion of Korah in The Book of Numbers? The Earth opened her mouth and swallowed Dathan who followed after, Korah.

The true ambition of Korah's ,it seemed was to be The High Priest like Aaron was but, because an War got started in Heaven; The Same way where Lucifer was concerned regarding God's Throne for Himself. God wasn't about to let it happen to Aaron or Moses.

So what I am getting at regarding Norman Lear is that Korah of The Kotathites which is what Lear is. Korah is Norman Lear's Great-Uncle but, Korah was Aaron's, Miriam's and Moses First Cousin and That Mr. Jonathon is why I got so excited seeing The Name on that Headstone Norman Lear's great-grandfather in Russia, DNA wise Moses is Norman Lear's Cousin by about 5000 years and counting.

Through God Moses did make an impact on The World.

Through another Prophet of God's Micah chapter 6: 4 God makes reference to sending Moses, Aaron, and Miriam their Sister to Israel when in bondage in Egypt which was 430 Year's.

Through The Apostle in Jude chapter 1:9, makes reference to The Archangel fought with Lucifer when disputing The Body of Moses. In the Gospels through Jesus Transfiguration which was in fact Witnessed by Christ's 3 best Disciples Peter, James, and John not only saw Moses but, Elijah as well including heard The Voice from Heaven This is my Beloved Son listen to Him. Now there is DNA proof that not only the Levites existed 1 of The 12 Tribes of Israel, but, also Moses.

Anyway that's all I wanted to say about A Prophet of The Oldest Religions on Earth.

Jonathon Perrin's picture

Jonathon

Jonathon is a writer, explorer, and geologist who has searched for oil and gas, rare earth elements, and gold deposits in Canada. He also has an archaeology degree and spent five years excavating and mapping prehistoric Native sites in Canada.... Read More

Next article