Pagan World: Deception And Falsehood In Religion

By Ziri Dafranchi

The bold revelation about religion based on the present concept as a human rather than divine invention. Book Three of the Trilogy of Truth. 

 

 

Humans are created with an inherent desire to connect with the supernatural because the human spirit is a product of

• Language: English
• Publisher: Heredita Press Limited
• Release date: Aug 2, 2021
• ISBN: 9781838385989

Ziri Dafranchi

Ziri Dafranchi is a great fabulist, author, poet, and author of the Trilogy Of Truth, a collection of three revealing and expository books. A gifted writer with a penchant for truth, he writes to encourage and inspire often drawing on insights acquired though his personal experiences. With an academic background in social science and a career in professional accountancy, banking, and business management, he began writing professionally to fulfil his calling. He writes from inspiration tackling controversial and difficult subjects objectively and incisively in a non-confrontational way which makes his writings relatable and easily accessible to readers of every background.Ziri is involved with various ministries and charities where he offers counselling, encouragement, and support to people in need and can be contacted via www.ziridafranchi.com. He lives in the United Kingdom, is family-oriented, and is the self-titled "The Running Man" who regularly does long-distance running. He is also a lover of nature and the outdoors, and a fitness and healthy-living enthusiast.

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Preface

We live in a world where the practise of religion is a very

significant part of most people’s lives. Until recently, almost every person was born and bred in one of the world’s recognised

religions, such that a person would naturally become a devout practitioner or believer of any given religion simply because of his or her birth circumstances. If, for instance, such a person was born to a parent who practised Christianity, she would naturally grow up upholding Christian beliefs and doctrines, based

primarily on her upbringing. The same would be the case where the parents practised Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, Sikhism,

Taoism, Buddhism, or any of the other globally recognised

religion. Bringing up a child in any religious faith has a

significant impact on that child including inculcating in him a religious mindset heavily influenced by the particular sets of

beliefs upheld in that religion. A child’s perspective and attitude is generally shaped by the things taught and learnt from early childhood because children are naturally highly impressionable and they accept almost everything with innocent confidence and trust. We perhaps have all had our fair share of childhood beliefs occasioned solely by what our parents or other adults had told us as children, only for us to discover otherwise, in some cases, as we grew up and became wiser as a result of being able to think for ourselves. While it might be easier to discard certain childhood beliefs, fantasies, or superstitions, it is a lot harder changing mindsets that had been inculcated in us from early childhood, particularly those arising from the process of indoctrination.

Religion, incidentally, adopts indoctrination as its main tool and teaches new converts or practitioners to wholly accept whatever is being taught, uncritically and without questioning. In ensuring that its particular set of beliefs are accepted as

sacrosanct, anyone who disagrees with or challenges any

particular religion’s belief or teaching is accused of doubting or lacking in faith—religion teaches that everything must be wholly accepted by faith or trust. Faith in itself is good and beneficial but only if it is exercised in something true, otherwise, faith

becomes counterproductive and a liability.

Truth, however, has now become very subjective so much so that it is now personalised with different people claiming to have their own truths, which they argue may be different to someone else’s truth. This incidentally applies to religion, where different religions are based on different alleged truths, resulting in conflicting sets of beliefs and ideologies between and within religions. The existence of many different religions in today’s world, each with different sets of theology, reveals what religion really is—something based on human ideas. This is in contrast to what religion purports to be—something divinely inspired.

Certainly, if the latter were to have been the case and religion was truly and wholly divinely inspired, there would not have been the need for different religions since the supernatural being, God, to whom religion is directed is supposed to be one and same—the same God would not inspire different religions all with different and conflicting sets of beliefs.

Interestingly, even the concept of God is not the same for all religions. Rather, God could mean different things in different religions, including the belief in the existence of many gods

(polytheism) or one God (monotheism).

Religion, therefore, is based more on human ideas than divine inspiration, meaning that anyone who adheres strictly and uncritically to any of the existing religions does not necessarily adhere to something wholly inspired by God but to a large extent ideas generated by other humans. Note, however, that almost

everyone who practises any religion does so in the firm belief that the associated theology was inspired by God. A big problem here is that it becomes easy to employ deception and manipulation, to achieve any objective or agenda, by simply channelling such through religion which in turn, is wrongly presented as

something inspired by God. It turns out that such is the fate which has befallen the world where a possible conspiracy of

deception has occasioned the invention of different religions, ironically, to mislead and direct people away from the true God and the rightful worship of same. I understand that this is not a claim to be made lightly, and it is not one I make flippantly, but I have very good reason to state accordingly. This reason forms the core motivation behind my writing of this book.

My awakening and transformational journey only started less than a decade ago, after having faithfully adhered to the

beliefs and practices of the particular religion I was born into and brought up under for more than four decades of my life. I was born into a family which practised Christianity and I

wholeheartedly accepted and embraced the religion without any reservations from early childhood. Although I had always

identified myself with Christianity, presenting myself as a

Christian, it was only shortly after my eighteenth birthday, on September 17th 1987, that I would become a bona fide Christian. This came after I became born again—the first experience that qualifies a person as a real Christian, as opposed to a nominal Christian or someone who simply identifies with Christianity but is not a faithful practitioner of Christian beliefs and practices. After my proper conversion, I went on to propagate Christianity as a firm believer and did so for over two decades after my conversion.

That was until things began to unravel for me. It involved a gradual process that first started with my being disillusioned with some of the Christian beliefs I had firmly upheld all my life up until then. I was befuddled with my observation of some of the ongoing within Christendom. Note that all the while I had always believed Christianity to be the only truth-based religion and the only religion which represented the rightful worship of the one true God. Although I had often wondered why Christianity had many branches or denominations, with more subdivisions within each branch, I had simply put this down to false doctrines

occasioned by an inaccurate understanding of Scripture. So I had always believed that while some branches of Christianity taught and practised scriptural truth, many others indulged in

unwholesome and false teachings and practices. I was quite

confident then that my particular branch of Christianity was the right one, and that the particular church organisation I was brought up under upheld sound doctrine in fullness. But even then, I had now and again noticed some contradictions within this church organisation between some of what was taught and some of what was practised. I put these down to human failings alone. I also noticed that some of the doctrines upheld in this church organisation did not properly correspond with the Bible verses they are based on. For these, I had no explanation. With time, I also associated with other church organisations outside the one I was brought up under and again, I noticed similar contradictions between what was taught and practised, and also some

theological inaccuracies. Consequently, my confidence in

Christianity was severely shaken but not broken.

Eventually, I concluded that our relationship with God was a personal affair and that it was up to everyone to individually ascertain that whatever each person believed and practised is based on scriptural truth. So I continued to identify with

Christianity while distancing myself from any belief or practice which I did not believe had a rightful biblical foundation. This remained the status quo for several years until other discoveries compounded my initial disillusionment. It was then I realised that something was fundamentally wrong, although I could not

pinpoint what the issue was.

These later discoveries began around 2013 but it was sometime in 2014 that it got profound. Sometime in 2014, I

randomly stumbled upon a BBC documentary in which it was stated that Christmas—celebrated in Christianity as a commemoration of the birth of Jesus Christ—originated from the pagan holiday of Saturnalia. Naturally, I was sceptical, because I could not imagine how a pagan festival could make it into Christianity, and so I decided to do a little personal research to ascertain if this claim was credible or not. This simple curiosity-driven

investigation took me deeper than I could ever have imagined.

Firstly, the claim in the documentary was confirmed to be accurate—to my bewilderment! Worse still, I also discovered

several other pagan practices and traditions which are largely

upheld in Christianity, and which, like Christmas, I had dutifully upheld and practised all my life. For instance, the Easter

celebration—celebrated in Christianity in commemoration of the death and resurrection of Jesus. I found out that the name Easter itself, as well as the dating of the festival, were both closely

associated with ancient paganism. The name Easter, I discovered, came from Ishtar (also Eostre), a pagan goddess of spring and

fertility. I was troubled and slightly irritated, by the realisation that what I considered to be a holy festival would be named after something as unholy as a pagan goddess. That aside, it was what I found out about how the date for the annual celebration of Easter was arrived at that made me instantly conclude that there was definitely a deception somewhere. Although Jesus was

crucified during the Jewish Passover week which was celebrated between days 15–22 of the Hebrew first month Abib, which

ordinarily should correspond with days 15–22 following the Spring or Vernal Equinox in the Roman calendar, Easter is

celebrated on the first Sunday following the Spring Equinox. I found the dating system for Easter to be unreasonable because the resultant day was in no way close to the possible day of Jesus’ crucifixion. However, when I realised that the first Sunday after the Spring Equinox, when Easter is celebrated, was closer to the day when the pagan Spring Festival was celebrated (on the Spring Equinox) than to the possible day when Jesus was

crucified, it dawned on me that what was being celebrated as Easter was actually the pagan Spring Festival rather than the crucifixion of Jesus. The mystery deepened for me at this stage in my discoveries.

Further compounding my bewilderment was the issue of Sunday worship. I discovered that Sunday, or the day of the sun (a day devoted to the pagan sun god), became the official day of worship in Christianity as a result of a decree by a Roman

emperor, after ancient Rome adopted Christianity as her official religion, a decision which was later endorsed by the Roman

Catholic Church. This meant that a human and not God

instituted the practise of Sunday worship, which was in contrast to the Sabbath duly instituted by God to be observed on the last day of the week (today’s Saturday).

At this stage, I began to wonder whether or not the other branches of Christianity were aware of the role ancient Rome and the Roman Catholic Church played in what in my opinion then was the paganising of Christianity. I wondered whether or not the religious authorities of the other branches of Christianity knew about the pagan origin of some of these Christian beliefs and practices. But the fact that most other branches of

Christianity still looked to the Roman Catholic Church for

guidance regarding the date for Easter each year made me

wonder how these branches could still regard themselves as Protestants while duly engaging in beliefs and practices which originated from ancient Rome and her Church (Roman Catholic). What were they then protesting against, as Protestants? I

wondered.

The foregoing represents the major aspects of what I

discovered during my research but, there are several other

ancient pagan beliefs, practices, and traditions which were also imported into Christianity both during and post-Roman times. When I considered the absence of biblical foundation for any of these beliefs, traditions, and practices, I initially concluded that Christianity was subsequently corrupted, mainly by ancient Rome, although it most likely was originally pure and authentic from its beginnings. Consequently, I embarked on trying to

separate what I still then regarded as true Christianity from

pagan Christianity.

This formed the original thesis when I first started

writing the initial draft of this book. I initially only wanted to write a book that highlighted various aspects of Christianity which either had pagan origins or are closely associated with

paganism. The primary objective then was to create an awareness among the unaware about the predominance of paganism in the religions of the world particularly Christianity, which I had till then believed was the only religion based on scriptural truth; and also, to challenge readers to shun paganism in any form and to only embrace the true and pure beliefs and practices in

Christianity (those with solid biblical foundation). That was until I came across some more shocking revelations as my journey and research continued.

From 2017, I started considering a more credible

alternative to Christianity. As a result, I was informed about the Messianic Hebrew, or Messianic Jewish groups but was instantly put off when I realised their emphasis on the observance of what I then considered were Jewish festivals and practices. My understanding in this regard was shaped by my Christian upbringing because my branch of Christianity taught that the Mosaic Laws were done away with and so the Old Testament feasts and some practices were no longer required in the new dispensation

ushered in by Jesus Christ (this helps to demonstrate how much a stronghold religious indoctrination can be and how grave an obstacle doctrinal brainwashing can be in preventing us from

realising and accepting the truth even when we are desperately in search of it). In any case, I returned to Christianity, having not found any suitable alternative, even though I remained

disillusioned. This time, my disillusionment became increased and almost unbearable but in the second half of 2019, I decided to give the Messianic Hebrew alternative a try.

Under the Messianic Hebrew system (also known as the Hebrew Roots Movement), I became aware of the importance of observing the feasts and other practices including the Sabbath (on the last day of the week). I also became aware of the right names for God (i.e., Elohim, Jehovah) and Jesus (i.e., Yahushua or Yeshua). However, I also soon discovered that there were many different factions under this group as there are in Christianity, and also that although the Hebrew Roots groups attempt to

distinguish themselves from Judaism, some of their practices and beliefs smacked of Judaism. Again, I resorted to separating those beliefs and practices I considered came from Judaism from what was practised under the Hebrew Roots system of worship, in my attempt to engage in true worship based solely on scriptural

contents. This was going well until late in 2020 when a fresh revelation turned everything upside down, leaving me greatly

distressed and devastated. This latest development resulted in an almost totally different thesis, objective, and narrative for this book—which I more or less had to start all over again from scratch.

First bear in mind that what you are about to read in this book Pagan World: Deception and Falsehood in Religion is not a critique of Christianity, nor of any of the other world’s religions. Also, its content is not driven by emotions or partisanship of any degree or nature but rather are products of careful exegesis of various scriptural texts done to validate or disprove certain

theological claims founded on them. The primary objective of this book is to pass some key theological claims, especially in

Christianity, through the sieve of scrutiny in order to hit the

bedrock of truth in each case. It also aims to demonstrate how the eisegesis of scriptural texts is largely responsible for the

invention of certain theological doctrines, some of which form the bulk of religious falsehood in Christianity. Also, sadly, how in some cases, scriptural texts were deliberately eisegeted in order to subtly introduce falsehoods through a carefully planned

deception aimed at introducing and advancing a spurious agenda. Furthermore, this book also shines some light on the origins and sources of some of the books canonised as part of the Bible,

particularly in the New Testament, for the purpose of

ascertaining their authenticity as God’s word. Consequently, helping readers to determine for themselves which contents of the Bible could be regarded as divinely-inspired.

Be warned, depending on who you are, that some of the contents of this book may prove difficult to read and some of its findings bitter pills to swallow, especially if you have some

fanatical tendencies. Nonetheless, it is highly recommended for anyone who truly desires to know the real God, and who wishes to worship this God truly and rightly. It is pertinent to point out that this book will be most beneficial if read objectively, for the purpose of discovering what it reveals. I would also encourage the reader to independently verify some of the findings and claims made in this book by embarking on a personal study guided by the Spirit of God. Note that any such independent personal

studies, as well as how much you benefit from this book, would be better served where the reader comes with an open mind; a mind free of bias or clouded with false knowledge. You need to come empty of preconceived ideas or knowledge, but with your natural intelligence and ability to think intact, if you are to rightly

appropriate new information.

This book is not exclusively for current Christians only, but is also meant for people who are currently Muslims, Jews, or practitioners of any religion at all, to whom I believe it would greatly be beneficial. It would also greatly benefit those who

currently profess no faith or who are not subscribed to any religion at all.

By the time I began writing this final draft, I had arrived at the conclusion that there must have been a deliberate

conspiracy of deception intended to make the world fully pagan, hence the invention of different religions, almost all of which in reality are nothing more than an indulgence in idolatry, or the worship of anything else but the one true God who created all things. A pagan world is not entirely a new development because the old world, in Noah’s days, was predominantly pagan but for Noah and his household. Likewise, shortly after the new and now world started, almost the whole world would again engage in

paganism up until the time God called Abraham to depart from his people, and idolatry, and follow Him.

Abraham’s answer to God’s call eventually culminated in the Abrahamic Covenant—which represents how God requires everyone to relate with and to worship Him. The Abrahamic

Covenant was properly established with the people of Israel, a branch of Abraham’s descendants, following their deliverance from their Egyptian captivity, through a series of laws and

ordinances given by God through