FROM THE BOOK “NEW AGE BIBLE VERSIONS”
BY GAIL RIPLINGER
The Western Roots
of the New Age and New Versions
EGYPT PANTAENUS
SACCAS
PHILO
CLEMEMT
ORIGEN
GREECE PLATO
ROME EUSEBIUS
The Men Behind the Manuscripts
Why do new versions agree with the New Age movement? Who originated the philosophies of today's New Age movement? Who originally wrote or influenced the few corrupt ancient manuscripts behind today's New Age Versions! The answer—the same men created both the manuscripts and the message.
The western roots of the New World Religion of the false prophet can be found in the philosophies of Egypt, Greece and Rome. The esoteric meanderings of philosophers such as Saccas, Philo and Origen spring from Egypt into the books of today's New Agers. The Greek philosophies of Plato provide the perfect broth for blending East and West in the New Age caldron. Moving further north yet, the Rome of Constantine and Eusebius, with their merger of Christianity and paganism, cradled the infantile crossbreed which today is Satan's seasoned scarlet woman. (Revelation 18)
[IN PLAIN LANGUAGE…. THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. SEE THE OLD BIBLE COMMENTARIES SUCH AS ALBERT BARNES’ “NOTES ON THE NEW TESTAMENT” - Keith Hunt]
Looking down into this poisoned well of the past reveals: 1.) the reservoir of 'ideas' spawning much of the 'New' Age and 2.) the course of contamination found in the 'New' versions. The well fed by Egypt, Greece, and Rome is today 'dished out' to New Agers and New Christians alike. The 'New' versions agree in many particulars with the 'New' Age because they flow from the same source. We will examine the philosophies of six men: Saccas, Philo, Plato, Clement, Origen and Eusebius—to see why new versions have New Age leaven. We will trace the origin of the handful of ancient papyrus and uncial New Testament manuscripts which were altered to agree with the esoteric philosophies of these men. These manuscripts (Aleph, B, D, P75, etc.) were resurrected by Westcott and Hort to 'correct' the Traditional Greek text. New versions are based on this corrupted Greek text. First we will look at these men and then their manuscripts.
The Return to Egypt (Exodus 13:17)
In 4 B.C, Asoka, the emperor of India, sent Buddhist missionaries to Egypt. His coolies, Saccas, Philo, and Origen, carried the 'New' Age doctrine one step closer to our Western corridor. Now the Egyptian sand from spiritually arid Alexandria is choking both 'New' Ager and 'New' Christian with the words of Saccas, Philo and Origen. Secular scholars add Westcott and Hort to this Alexandrian sand storm which is blinding so many. Looking through the window of any city library in Small Town, U.S.A. will reveal the secular Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics. Our duo, Westcott and Hort, is found in it under "Alexandrian Theology." In tracing the history of the mysticism of Alexandria, Egypt the Encyclopedia begins
with a discussion of Philo, moves on to Clement and Origen, and ends with Westcott and Hort! They summarize this 'Theology' saying, "Those who would oust metaphysics from theology can have but scanty sympathy with the Alexandrian." 1
On the next shelf, Man, Myth and Magic: An Illustrated Encyclopedia of the Supernatural points to the same "Alexandrian Theology" as the source of the New Age! They begin with Philo and end with Blavatsky.
At Alexandria the philosophies of Philo Judaeus joined the ideas of Plato with Judaism in a theosophic system. It persisted in the Cabala and Neo-Platonism—all taught the essential base of theosophy. In modem times the name is associated with the system set out in the nineteenth century in the book by H.P. Blavatsky…. [O]ccult feats made her salon a magnet for a wide variety of people.2
Blavatsky's Luciferian 'theosophy' is "Alexandrian Theology." The Theosophical Society's publication Theosophy Simplified reiterates the encyclopedia's remark.
Saccas of Alexandrea coined the word Theosophia. Theosophy [was] first used by Saccas of Alexandria.3
We see from those two encyclopedias that 1.) Alexandria was a prime source for the philosophy of the New Age and 2.) Westcott, Hort and Blavatsky were its nineteenth century proponents. We are beginning to uncover why there is concurrence between the New Age and the new versions.
Just as Pharaoh's chain of bondage held the children of God, this Egyptian chain attempts to link the New Age with Judeo-Christian beliefs through men like Origen, Westcott and Hort. After the plague of flies Pharaoh said, "I will let you go….only ye shall not go very far away."(Exodus 8:28) Truly these men have not moved far from Egyptian philosophy.
Alexandria, Egypt was the crossroad where Eastern and Western culture and religious beliefs collided and became entangled. When Christianity came to Egypt to untangle the spiritual wreckage, it was assimilated and conjoined to Egypt's pagan heritage—the fate of scores of religions before it. Westcott boasts:
Alexandria was a meeting place of east and west….[I]deas were discussed, exchanged and combined. When the east and west enter a true union then the canon [New Testament] is found perfect.4
Emperor Hadrian gives us a clearer picture and it was not 'perfect'.
There is [at Alexandria] no ruler of the synagogue among the Jews, no Samaritan, no Christian who is not also an astrologer, soothsayer….Money is their god.
Hadrian's objectivity is missing from today's New Age movement. Their current preeminent monthly magazine is, in fact, called the East West Journal. One of its most vocal leaders, Benjamin Creme, "tells us that the New World Religion will fuse East and West….”5 His sister soothsayer Alice Bailey writes of the one world religion as being "the factual solidarity of the Eastern and Western approaches to God."6 Westcott is not alone among new version editors who seek the union of "east and west." Philip Schaff ('New' Greek Text, ASV and its offshoots the NASV and Living Bible) helped organize the 'World Religion Parliament'. Its keynote speaker, a Hindu named Vivekananda told attendees, “The East must come to the West”7
Philo: East Meets West
Philo (20 B.C. - A.D.42) produced a philosophic ideology by coalescing the Old Testament (for which he "expressed contempt for the literal narrative") and the Greek philosophies of the Stoics and Heracleitus. Philo held that the scriptures held an occult or hidden meaning. Hort's personal letters disclose his penchant for Philo. His biographer said, "There are no writers on whom Dr. Hort spent more time than Josephus and Philo." Hort writes:
I'm glad you are working on Philo's psychology….I lay on the sofa and read….Clement….wrote a piece of Introduction to the text [his 'New' Greek text]….took my manuscript book….and references from Philo.…dinner came….then a good piece of Shakespeare….more Introduction….a little Philo at night and some Bible.8
While Philo was influencing Hort's work on his 'New' Greek New Testament Text, Madame Blavatsky was penning quotes from Philo in her occult tome, The Secret Doctrine. There she cites Philo to explain her odd beliefs, like "Satan is a God, of whom even the Lord is in fear."9 In her Theosophical Glossary, she states that Philo,”….was a great mystic and….in esoteric knowledge he had no rival.”10
Not only did Philo's philosophy influence the revisors of the 'New' Greek, but his own codex was used to alter the NIV in Luke 1:78. Papyri #4 was discovered in the binding of a codex of Philo's. Needless to say, this is not a 'repository' of truth. In Luke 1:78 his papyrus reads, he "will come to us." It uses a future tense verb, rather than he "hath visited" us, the reading seen in the Majority Greek Text and consequently the KJV.11 This denial that Christ has come in the flesh is the mark of antichrist as described in I John 4:2.
Plato: 19th Century Revival
Man, Myth and Magic concluded that Blavatsky's nineteenth century New Age religion was a fusion of the philosophies of Philo of Alexandria, Egypt and Plato of Greece; so also the Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics names Plato as the fountainhead for all of the "Alexandrians" from Philo to Westcott.
Jewish and Christian Platonism, as developed at Alexandria….[has] three representative names….Philo, Clement, and Origen….Among later developments of Christian Platonism….it is necessary to mention….the Cambridge Platonists of the seventeenth century, and in our day the theology of F.D. Maurice [Hort's 'Apostles'] and Westcott….Alexandrianism has been revived by modem thinkers….Westcott….Hort.12
So we have Blavatsky resuscitating 'Alexandrianism' and Plato for the inner circle of New Agers and Westcott and Hort recasting the New Testament in light of Plato's "ideas" for the outer circle. Westcott calls Plato a "prophet" whose works are a "treasure" "in some danger of being forgotten.”13 Plato's ideas have rightly escaped the mind of most Christians but run into the waiting arms of Madame Blavatsky. She summoned him nearly one-hundred times in her writings to act as oracle for her New Age and Luciferian blasphemy. Westcott thinks Plato has a clear source of "truth," which for us is "blurred and dim." He writes that this "truth" stems from Plato’s
….communion with a divine and super-sensuous world….[with] those beings who occupy a middle place between God and man….[A]ll fellowship which exists between heaven and earth is realized through this intermediate order….These spirits are many and manifold.14
Westcott's Ghostly Guild activities were no doubt aimed at garnering 'truths' from this 'world'. The Encyclopedia cites a tendency of all of these 'Alexandrian' mystics to call in intermediary powers such as spirits.15
One of Plato's most well-known philosophies is his concept of 'the Idea' wherein the outside form of things merely veils 'the idea', which alone is real. Westcott expresses this Eastern and Gnostic world view saying:
There is….a serious danger in the prevailing spirit of realism which leads us to dwell on the outside form, the dress of things, to the neglect of 'ideas' which are half-veiled….Eternal life is….the potential fulfillment of the 'idea'of humanity.16
Plato: 20th Century Revival
The T.V. mini-series The Power of Myth 'programmed' potential New Agers with Plato's concept of 'the Idea'. Joseph Campbell, its author, also wrote Hero with a Thousand Faces. Both try to popularize Westcott's Platonic idea that, as Westcott says, God appears, "not in one form, but in many.”17 [Buddha, Krishna, Mary]. If you missed the mini-series reruns, your college psychology class will present the same concept under the guise of Carl Jung's 'archetypes' welling up from the 'universal unconscious'. Following these links in the chain, which attempts to keep the world close to spiritual Egypt, brings us to the current library of the New Ager. Authors Pride and de Parrie note:
The similarities between [Plato] and the utopias proposed by the New Agers….are not coincidental.18
These authors find the Dialogues of Plato being promoted through New Age bookstores. New Age authors, like Lola Davis, cultivate interest in Plato citing his initiation into the Egyptian and Pythagorean mysteries. Plato is their hero because he broke his vow of secrecy to promote 'New Age' consciousness among the masses. 19
In a typical New Age bookstore, Westcott and Hort and Schaff’s grandchild, the NASB might be found alongside the Dialogues of Plato. The preface to the New Age Metaphysical Bible Dictionary says, "[T]his [NASB] version is used and recommended by the Unity School of Christianity."20 I happened to read a small booklet, What's Wrong with Unity School of Christianity by Louis Talbot, while researching Platonism and reading the biographies of Westcott and Hort.21 Like images in a three way mirror, this 'New Age' Unity Church, Platonism, and the Alexandrian mysticism of Westcott and Hort, are recognizable as reflections of the same approaching New World Religion.
When the Antichrist and False Prophet [THE ANTI-CHRIST IS THE FALSE PROPHET - Keith Hunt] initiate their World Religion, they may simply quote Plato's Republic or Dialogue which recommends, "[A]ll religion and religious doctrine [is] to be state controlled." Plato advocated that this dominion begin at birth so that "no parent is to know his own child." Westcott and Hort's 'coenobium' was planned to be, as Hort wrote in 1869, "an artificial family as a substitute for a natural family." Socialist and communist regimes have historically used this ploy. And it is being imported to America in the sometimes careless use of day care centers. (Some mistake the price tag on the VCR or BMW for the actual price. The hidden cost is the soul of their child. Much too expensive, I venture.)
Plato's vision for the state control of children is rooted in his 'ideate' of the "summum bonum" or greatest good. He said, "join me in the search for the good." Scholars say that the Platonic dialogue concerning 'What is good' was inserted by Gnostics into Matthew 19:16,17 in several ancient New Testament manuscripts. It now appears in the Unity recommended NASB, as well as other new versions.22
NIV
Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life? Why do you ask me what is good, Jesus replied. There is only One who is good:
Its inclusion in the new versions is based on two fourth century manuscripts from Alexandria, Egypt, Aleph and B. It is also seen in the writings of Origen and Eusebius, who will be discussed shortly. The new versions witness against themselves because this same story is told again in Mark 10:17 and Luke 18:18 where the new versions render it correctly. The majority of Greek texts and the KJV agree in all three locations. Testimony earlier than Aleph and B, agrees with the Majority Text; this includes Justin Martyr (A.D.150), Irenaeus (A.D.I80), Hippolytus (A.D.200), the Sahidic and Peshitta Versions and D, the third oldest uncial. The manuscript evidence overwhelmingly agrees with the KJV, as usual.
Good Master, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life? And he said unto him, why callest thou me good? There is none good but one, that is God:
Jesus was saying, in essence, 'Do you recognize that I am God? The new versions change this from a discussion of the deity of Christ to a philosophical argument. The internal disagreement within these versions destroys the harmony of the gospels.
Heresy: Then and Now
The appearance of this Platonic dialogue in the Westcott and Hort 'New' Greek Text came from their use of the two Alexandrian manuscripts. It can further be explained by unfolding Hort's letter to Mr. A. MacMillan, the publisher. In it he announces that Plato was "the center of my reading" while creating the New Greek text.23 His biography further speaks of his fascination "with Plato and Aristotle to say nothing of more modern speculations."24 This led Hort to translate the whole works of Plato in 1857. He comments:
….the great Greeks. Sometimes I have a yearning to read nothing else and often think of assigning them a fixed number of hours per week….[M]y old fondness for philosophy makes me anxious to make it a serious and constant study .25
Platonic speculations found in Hort's correspondence with F.D. Maurice, (his "idol" and the "most powerful element in his religious development") caused Maurice's dismissal from his professorship at Cambridge.26 Heresy which caused dismissal one hundred years ago is the status quo today. It has almost become ‘heresy’ to use the word 'heresy' in the 'New' church.
For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them. Therefore watch, and remember, that by the space of three years I ceased not to warn every one night and day with tears. Acts 20: 29, 30.
The Moody Press publication, The Agony of Deceit, in reviewing the apostasy in the church today, expresses the same concern.
Throughout history Christianity has had to fight Platonizing tendencies even within its own orthodox ranks. What concerns us here is not Platonizing tendencies but the adoption of Platonic Heresies—the same heresies that became central in the Gnostic cult against which the apostles fought so vigorously.27
The heresy which is being assimilated into the church today is being tolerated under the same guise as it began. The Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics' section on "Heresy" describes "the men" and "the method" dominant then and now.
[T]he danger was increased through the combination of Oriental forms of imagery with Greek Christian thoughts.28
Today the New Age still bombards the church with its Oriental and Greek philosophy. Paul warned the Colossian church most clearly:
Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. Colossians 2:8
Hort disagreed holding, "Greek philosophy….seems full of precious truths."29 The NIV agrees saying, "hollow philosophy" is to be avoided, not all philosophy. (Colossians 2:8) The NIV translators ignore the order of the Greek words here, as they often do.
Westcott also chose to ignore the scriptural admonition against philosophy; he even wrote an entire book, Religious Thought in the West, showcasing Plato, Aeschylus, Euripides, Dionysius, Origen and others. This book was not written during a mental hiatus from his position in the Anglican church, but between 1866-1883—the very years in which his Revised Version was taking shape. He thinks that through philosophy the seeker can,
….learn as perhaps he can in no other way what the apostolic message is.30
As late as 1891 he conceded that "some of the lines of thought which I have endeavored to indicate….may be strange, but I know they are worth following." He contends that God has revealed truths to the heathen which he has hidden from the Christian.
He has made some parts of his will clearer than to us….The noblest speculations of men who have not the Faith are thus unconscious prophecies….In such writings the Spirit manifested in many strange ways and unexpected quarters, lies our guidance. The last word of God is not yet spoken….[M]en will hereafter see truths which have not been made known to us, truths brought from many fresh springs.31
Today's New Age International Cooperation Council concisely echoes Westcott in their 'Declaration of Independence'.
[R]espect the teachings of the prophets and sages at all time and in all cultures.32
Alexandria's "Grievous Wolves": Clement and Origen
You may not have heard of Clement of Alexandria, but your children have been exposed to his philosophies if they have seen the Hanna-Barbera video cartoon ‘The Nativity’ or read The MacMillan Book of 366 Bible Stories for children. Both present Clement's eccentric notion that Jesus Christ was born in a cave. 'Lambs' are born in stables; bats and wolves are born in caves. Scholars identify Clement and Origen of Alexandria, Egypt as two of the "grievous wolves" of Paul's warning. The Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics follows the tracks of the wolf pack down to the twentieth century:
Clement and Origen, by which….Platonism….was incorporated into Christianity….[M]odern thinkers, for example Westcott, are in sympathy with Clement and Origen.33
The Encyclopedia closes its article on 'Alexandrianism' citing Hort's opinion of Clement:
In Clement, Christian theology, in some important respects, reaches its highest point….There was no one whose vision of what the faith of Jesus Christ was intended to do for mankind was so full and so true.34
The chart at the end of this chapter reveals Clement and Origen, not as high points, but as low points reaching down into the New Age pit for their doctrines. The History of Heresy calls Origen a 'Christian Gnostic' who was pronounced a 'heretic' by a series of general synods.35
The philosophical school, based in Alexandria, had seen as its head Pantaenus, a pagan gnostic, followed by Clement, who was succeeded by Origen. Like Philo, these scholars attempted to cross the young Christian cub with the wailing wolf of the 'hidden wisdom' of paganism. Philip Lee, author of Against the Protestant Gnostics and graduate of Princeton and Harvard Divinity Schools observes:
The Alexandrian school was indeed one of the historical moments in the church's closest proximity to gnostic heresy….[For] Clement and Origen….gnosis [hidden wisdom], far from being a forbidden word, was a basic tenet of their system….[T]he word gnosis is the key to Clement's work.36
Ammonius Saccas also taught at this school and is often called 'the Father of the New Age religion'. The encyclopedia Man, Myth and Magic lists Ammonius Saccas of Alexandria as the founder of Madame Blavatsky's Luciferian Theosophy and the foundation of the New Age philosophy. Westcott seems to share Blavatsky's ardor for Saccas when writing:
His success showed that he had some neglected forms of truth to make known; and Origen became one of his hearers….There can be no doubt that Origen was deeply influenced by the new philosophy .37
Blavatsky summons Origen dozens of times in her Isis Unveiled to pander her occult doctrines. Her Theosophical Glossary places him where he belongs, as a "disciple" of neo-platonism at the Alexandria School of Ammonius Saccas.38 She sees Clement and Origen as apologists for her occult world view:
It is maintained on purely historical grounds that Origen….and even Clement had themselves been initiated into the Mysteries, before adding to the Neo-Platonism of the Alexandrian school that of the Gnostics, under a Christian veil.39
She calls it 'a Christian veil'; Jesus called it 'wolves clothing'. Blavatsky is not alone among New Agers in seeing Clement and Origen as 'fellow-travelers'. Even today's favorite New Age psychologist, Carl Jung, records "channeling" one of Origen's students.40 New Age books, like The Hidden Wisdom in the Holy Bible, quote Origen at length with such blasphemies as, "[T]he laws of men appear more excellent and reasonable than the laws of God."41 Rudolf Steiner's The Esoteric Basis of Christianity, a book teeming with positive references to Lucifer, says:
The divinity of man, of all men, was taught….from the writings of Origen and Clement. Plato is saturated with it.42
The McClintock and Strong Encyclopedia records Origen as saying, "[T]he scriptures are of little use to those who understand them as they are written." Hidden Wisdom vaults Origen's allegorical method of bible interpretation saying:
Disciples of Saccas and the neo-platonists of Alexandria and their successors [Clement and Origen] down to this present day [Westcott, Hort, and Blavatsky] have all regarded world scripture as being largely, but not entirely allegorical. The hidden sense lies concealed.43
Note how the following New Agers must weave Origen's web of allegory around the scriptures to promote their 'private' interpretation.
Unity Christianity:
"New Thought, Christian Science, and Unity….spiritualize every truth in the Word of God….[T]he Scriptures become an allegory."44
Alice Bailey:
"[T]he entire Gospel story….contains little except symbolic details."45
HP. Blavatsky:
"It is well known that Origen, and Clement….confessed that….the Bible were veiled and secret books"46
Corrine Heline author of New Age Bible Interpretation:
Cites Origen and his belief that "[T]he entire bible is written so that it has one meaning for the masses of the people and another for occult students."47
Westcott repeats the New Age Bible Interpretation's view almost verbatim.
It must be remembered that the book (Origen's On First Principle) was not for simple believers but for scholars— for those who were familiar with the teachings of Gnosticism and Platonism….questions which….become urgent when men have risen to a wide view of Nature and life. He aimed at presenting the higher knowledge.48
(In Matthew 7:13 Jesus calls the "wide view of Nature and life"—"the broad way….that leadeth to destruction.") Westcott's son tells us that, "For many years the works of Origen were close to his [Westcott's] hand and he turned to them at every opportunity." For this reason Westcott was selected to write the section on Origen in the Dictionary of Christian Biography. He also reserved a large section in his book, Religious Thought in the West, to present Origen views. Westcott uses Origen's allegorical approach to scripture to dismiss its literal narrative:
We transfer….the language of earth….to an order of beings to which it is wholly inapplicable. We have not yet made good the position which he marked out as belonging to the domain of Christian Philosophy….They are in danger of being forgotten….He has left us the duty of maintaining his conclusions in a later age.50
Rest assured, the "later age" or New Age ‘Christian’ scholar will not leave it buried or "forgotten". Theologians like Emmanual Kant exhumed the allegorical method for Westcott's generation. The author of the recent New Directions in New Testament Study points his reader to the new trend of applying "Clement and Origen's biblical alchemy and mysterious language of symbols," using the views of "Freud" [atheist], "Jung" [occultist], "Eliade" [shamanist] and "Erikson" [humanist], to interpret the bible.51
Dr. Henry Krabbendam, in his "Twisting Scriptures" section of the recent Moody Press book The Agony of Deceit, explains the error of the allegorical approach.
The Bible's narrative portions are not allegorical….[T]he allegorical method….sought to interpret the text in terms of something else, whether that something else was a philosophical system [The Alexandrian] or a doctrinal position.52
Moody's Alfred Martin agrees saying, "Origen’s….influence in promoting the spiritualizing method of Bible interpretation has done untold damage. Hort relied on him perhaps more than any Father."53
The church declared Origen a heretic because he held the following beliefs:
1. The Logos is subordinate to the Father and has some characteristics similar to the Logos of the Gnostics.
2. The soul is preexistent; Jesus took on some preexistent human soul.
3. There was no physical resurrection of Christ nor will there be a second coming.
4. Man will not have a physical resurrection.
5. Hell is nonexistent; purgatory, of which Paul and Peter must partake, does exist.
6. All, including the devil, will be reconciled to God.
7. The sun, moon and stars are living creatures.
8. Emasculation, of which he partook, is called for, for males.
Westcott stands at odds with the church saying, “[H]is practical conclusions remain unshaken.”54
Alexandrian Manuscripts
The beliefs of the Alexandrian school, particularly those of Origen, are of critical interest to us because scores of scholars, tracing the history of the transmission of the text of the bible, see the hand of the Alexandrian scribes in the corruption of certain ancient copies of the text. Today these corrupt codices and papyri are being resurrected by 'Alexandrians', like Westcott and Hort, to reshape the bible to match their delusions. As a result, those 'falling away' (II Thessalonians 2:3) will be prepared to fall into the waiting arms of Blavatsky's New Age; hence the pages of New Age Journal read like the pages of the New American Standard. The following shows the consensus of opinion among many scholars, both ancient and contemporary, concerning the corruption of some ancient bible manuscripts.
Tertullian (A.D. 160-220) writes of how Alexandrians corrupted manuscripts.
Dr. Philip Comfort, author of Early Manuscripts and Modern Translations of the New Testament states:
[T]he early manuscripts exhibit some very significant differences in the wording of the New Testament, text-differences pertaining to the titles of the Lord Jesus Christ, Christian doctrine and church practice as well as significant word variations….[T]extual corruption happened at such an early date….Origen was the first New Testament critic.55
Dr. David Fuller, Princeton scholar finds:
Many of the important variations in the modem versions may be traced to the influence of Eusebius and Origen.56
Dr. Edward Hills, Harvard and Yale scholar, relays:
Origen….was not content to abide by the text which he received but freely engaged in the boldest sort of conjectural emendations. And there were other critics at Alexandria….who deleted many readings of the original New Testament text and thus produced the abbreviated text found in the papyri and in the manuscripts Aleph and B [the Greek manuscripts used to create the recent new versions] .57
World renowned scholar Hermann Hoskier, (scholars say his collation of New Testament manuscripts is unsurpassed in quality and quantity) feels:
We do not necessarily recover Origen's manuscripts when we are inclined to follow Aleph and B [basis for new translations], but very likely only Origen himself.58
John Burgon, author of scores of scholarly books on the transmission and corruption of the original Greek manuscripts said:
I am of the opinion that such depravations of the text [as found in Aleph and B] were in the first instance intentional. Origen may be regarded as the prime offender….the author of all the mischief….[Clement used] 'hopelessly corrupt' versions of the New Testament which there is in these last days an attempt to revive and palm off on an unlearned generation the old exploded errors.59
[ALL SHOULD HAVE A COPY OF BURGON’S BOOK REVISION REVISED - Keith Hunt]
Even Westcott admits:
Origen, in a word, laid down the lines of systematic….criticism.60
Alfred Martin, former Vice-President of Moody Bible Institute calls Origen "aberrant" and says:
[H]e seems to have been so saturated with the strange speculations of the early heretics. It is manifest that Origen is not a safe guide in the textual criticism any more than in theology.61
The Alexandrian Papyri
Some of the most ancient witnesses of the Greek New Testament exist in the form of papyrus fragments. The early papyri, with the exception of P52 (A.D. 100-115), which contains only a few fragmentary verses, were all written during the life and influence of Origen and came from the circumference of his school. The Chester Beatty papyri came from Aphroditopolis (city of the goddess Aphrodite), a mere ninety miles from 'the Alexandrian School. Thirty two other papyri came from Oxyrhynchus, which was one hundred and fifty miles away.62 Colin H. Roberts in his Manuscripts, Society and Beliefs in the Early Christian Egypt comments that, "[T]here was a healthy flow of communication between scholars who lived in upper and middle Egypt and those who lived in Alexandria." Comfort cites E. G. Turner's study of the papyri stating, "[S]cholars from Oxyrhynchus were exchanging notes with other Alexandrian scholars….[S]everal Alexandrian scholars lived in Middle and Upper Egypt."
The dating of the papyri coincides perfectly with the dates of the Alexandrian school. Turner writes, "[T]he scribes of Middle and Upper Egypt probably knew of Alexandrian scriptoral practices as early as A.D. 180. "63 This period would have included the tenure of the pagan gnostic Pantaenus as head of the school. Herbert Hunger dates P66 "not later than the middle of the second century." This period saw Clement as a teacher and head of this school. Gordon Fee asserts that P66, "offers us first-hand evidence of a kind of official editorial activity going on in the church in Alexandria at the time of dement."64
E. G. Turner, however, dates P66 "A.D. 200-250." Origen was a student of Saccus, Pantaenus, and Clement. He became the head of the Alexandrian school by A.D.213 at age eighteen. Westcott concedes, "Origen completed nobly the work which dement began….He professes only to repeat the teachings which he received."65 Scholars such as K.W. Clark, W. Bousset and Kenyon, author of The Text of the Greek Bible, have asserted that a text alteration or 'recension' occurred at Alexandria in the third century [A.D.200-300]. Fee writes, "It has been frequently posited that Origen was the philological mind behind the production of the Egyptian recension."66 Publication in 1961 of P75, dated A.D.175-200 by some and "early third century" by Metzger, only serves to move the date of this recension into the earlier part of Origen's career or the later part of Clement's or Pantaenus'. Evident in Origen's writings is his awareness of, as Hoskier in Codex B and Its Allies states, "both the original and the altered text." Princeton professor, Bruce Metzger agrees, commenting that Origen was familiar with "each of the main families of MSS that modern scholars now isolated."67
Consequently, we can conclude that the papyri now being used to alter the Traditional Greek Text were the product of Clement and Origen's philosophies. It appears that the stew in today's new versions was construed by Saccas and Pantaenus, brewed by Clement and spewed by Origen. Lucifer said, "I will ascend….north."(Isaiah 14:13) Like 'a carrier' of the plague, Satan brought his Sahidic or Coptic papyri 'New' Testament north to Caesarea (modern day Syria) via Origen. These manuscripts in turn were carried further north to Rome where the virus was contracted by the sickly regime of Constantine. These manuscripts got another northward boost in apostate Germany with its institution of the 'science' of 'textual criticism'. Their last stop was a northward push to London were 'Alexandrians' Westcott, Hort and Blavatsky meet, as she called them, "the Egyptian group of the Universal Mystic Brotheihood." Even KJV detractors, such as D.A. Carson admit, this text type [new versions] probably originated in Egypt and may have been brought to Caeserea by Origen.68
New World Order: Rome 4th century
The New World Order, with its union of the Antichrist and a religious false prophet, [THE ANTI-CHRIST IS THE FALSE PROPHET; IT IS THE MAN “BEAST” - POLITICAL, MILITARY LEADER WITH THE FALSE PROPHET THAT THE BOOK OF REVELATION GIVES - Keith Hunt], has historical precedence, not only in England with Westcott and Balfour, but around the world and back throughout history. As Erwin W. Lutzer in his booklet The Antichrist's New Age Roots reminds us:
We must remember that Satan does not know when Christ is scheduled to come back to earth. He knows what will happen, but he does not know when. Consequently he must always have someone in place to play the role of Antichrist [and false prophet] should the need arise.69
[HOW THEY CAN GET THIS MIXED UP IS BEYOND ME; IT IS THE ANTI-CHRIST WHO PASSES HIMSELF OFF AS GOD’S TRUE LEADER AND TRUE RELIGION, WHICH IS ACTUALLY, AS FAR AS GOD IS CONCERNED - ANTI- CHRIST, AGAINST THE TRUTH OF GOD AND CHRIST. THE “BEAST” MAN WORKS WITH HIM BEING THE POLITICAL AND MILITARY LEADER; BOTH ARE CAST INTO THE FIRE ON JESUS’ RETURN - REV. 19 - Keith Hunt]
We will examine how the bible 'created' by Westcott and Hort and used today to 'soften up' the unsuspecting, received its substructure from another amalgamation of religion and politics, that of Constantine and Eusebius in the 4th century. They needed a 'world bible' to smooth out cultural and religious differences in their highly heterogeneous Roman Empire. Origen's 'corrected' version, which espoused his synthetic Alexandrian, East meets West doctrine, fit the bill perfectly.
Constantine's predecessor Emperor Diocletian had cleared the shelves, so to speak, of real bibles. Just as Herod ordered the destruction of the 'young' living Word, so:
Emperor Diocletian in A.D.302 ordered all sacred manuscripts to be destroyed. In this bitter and determined attempt to destroy Christianity, the penalty of death was inflicted upon all who harbored a copy of the Christian scripture.70
For this reason, no early copies of the true Greek New Testament are extant today. Remaining only are the corrupted Egyptian papyri and their ancestors Aleph and B (protected, like the Egyptian babies, from Pharaoh's murder mandate against the seed of Abraham.) God has none the less preserved "the incorruptible seed….the word by which the gospel is preached unto you" (I Peter 1:23-25), just as he protected Moses from Pharaoh and Christ from Herod.
Constantine: “Man of Peace”
[H]e shall magnify himself in his heart and by peace shall destroy many Daniel 8:25
Rome was 'ungovernable'—still "drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus." Revelation 17:6 records what Rome did to Peter, Paul and those martyred later by Diocletian. Constantine saw that the division between pagans and 'Christians' "menaced the future of the state."71 The adage of this Antichrist antetype was:
Let us cherish peace and forbearance….for it would be truly disastrous that we should assail one another. Let us banish strife.72
This Peace banner is a ploy of the Antichrist; consequently the word 'peace' in Daniel 8, God's warning flag to future generations, has been torn down in recent versions by the enemy troops. The spear that pierced the side of the living Word still assails the written word. Historians, such as the author of The Spear of Destiny, record that the ruler who possesses the spear that pierced Christ's side, including forty-five men from Constantine to Adolf Hitler, will have occultic sovereignty.73 The spear is now housed in Austria, the site of a new United Nations center.
[DO NOT THINK AUSTIA EVER BECOME THE NEW SITE FOR THE UNITED NATIONS - Keith Hunt]
Eusebius, like the false prophet of the book of Revelations and Daniel, "magnifies" Constantine, proclaiming that his power came from a supernatural source. Constantine was, he says:
….interpreter to the Word of God….invested as he is with heavenly sovereignty….whose character is formed after the Divine original….Hence is our emperor perfect.74
Together Constantine and Eusebius called for religious toleration, which is invariably followed by amalgamation. To placate both Christian and heathen, they took a 'middle of the road' position regarding the deity of Christ. Consequently Arianism and semi-Arianism, the doctrine that Jesus was "the eldest and highest of creatures," rather than 'God manifest in the flesh', was adopted by Constantine in 330 A.D.75 (The proliferation of this doctrine in the new versions and New Age literature is treated in Chapter 23.) So in A.D.331 Constantine asked Eusebius to create bibles which presented this somewhat de-deified Christ and ecumenical theology. Origen had much in his writings to suggest the subordination of the Son; his amalgamation of heathen and Christian doctrine—smoothing out differences thereby allowing for unity—was perfect for Constantine's purposes. So Constantine,
….charged Eusebius with preparing fifty copies….written on prepared skins with the help of skillful artists.76
Scholars agree on the role of Origen and Pamphilus, a scribe, as the authors of these fifty corrupt copies. Jerome (A.D.325-420) records that Pamphilus, a friend of Eusebius and an apologist of Origenism, "copied with his own hand the chief part of the work of Origen." Even Westcott tells us that the bible texts used by Eusebius to create these bibles were "compared with accurate copies of Pamphilus of Caesarea contained in the library of Eusebius"77; from the textbook, Ancestry of the English Bible; Ira Price summarizes:
Eusebius of Caesarea….assisted by Pamphilus….issued with all his critical remarks the fifth column of Origen's Hexapla….The Emperor Constantine gave orders that fifty copies of this edition should be prepared for use in the churches.78
Numerous scholars, including Bruce Metzger, contend that the two Greek manuscripts, Aleph and B (used as the basis for the new versions), may have been two of these fifty. Tischendorf noted that parts of Aleph and B were written by the same scribe. Their dating, vellum skins and artistic style confirm this. It was a common practice of scribes to add their name and the place and date of their work at the end of manuscripts or books. Aleph contains such inscriptions, indicating "the hand" of "Pamphilus" copying and "correcting" "Origen's own copy" of his Hexapla. Metzger therefore describes Aleph as, "only one step removed from Origen himself."79 The writings of "aberrant" Origen were penned and reshapened by his student Pamphilus, for Eusebius, a semi-Arian. The two copies remaining today, called Aleph and B, are the foundation of the critical Greek texts used as a basis for the new versions. (The differences between Aleph and B do not negate their common ancestry. When bibles disagree, an "interpreter to the Word of God" like Constantine is needed.)
Headlines read—"ACCUSED OF, AMONG OTHER THINGS, ADULTERY ON THE EVIDENCE OF A PROSTITUTE." This was not a reference to the dalliances of today's T. V. evangelists, but to the meanderings of Eusebius, as recorded in The History of Heresy. Because of this, he was cut from his leadership role, like those pandering 'his' bible version today. Corrupt bibles, with their loose doctrine, seem to create loose living in A.D.333 and the l990's.
When the sheep's clothing slips, revealing the wolves' wild hair, "the beast" is no longer of any use in the wolf pack. (The second beast of Revelation 13:11, also called the false prophet, has "two horns like a lamb" but "he spake as a dragon.")
New Age authors like Vera Alder and Lola Davis recognize Constantine and Eusebius as prototypes of an "alliance between a head of government and the Church, which began a long series of such agreements." New Agers hope one such agreement will culminate soon in a One World Religion and Government. Constantine expected the new bibles to be a unifying force in his empire, writes Vera Alder. Her coming Antichrist does too. Like Constantine and Eusebius, New Agers hope an ecumenical bible will assist in this unification. Former Assistant Secretary General of the United Nations, Robert Muller, writes of the new bible - new world order synchrony in his book, The New Genesis.
The Roman Empire's persecution and suppression of the true text was only necessary until a 'New' text was in the making—its amalgamating powers foreseen. The Russian government's longstanding suppression of bibles remained in place until the demise of the true text and the dominance of the 'New' text was on the horizon. This allows the Antichrist's new versions to proliferate, preparing the way for his reign of 'peace' and destruction.
Origen and the Old Testament
The Septuagint (LXX), a Greek translation of the Old Testament, is used today by textual critics, in many instances, to determine the wording of new versions. It appears that Origen was the author of this A.D. document. The NIV translators admit they use the O.T. text which was "standardized early in the third century by Origen."80 Hence, Origen's six column Old Testament, the Hexapla, is used as the LXX today. It is freely drawn from by new translation editors to alter the Masoretic Hebrew Text Recall, the colophon at the end of Sinaiticus (Aleph) stated that it was 'the Hexapla' of Origen. Hort concedes in his Introduction to the New Testament in the Original Greek that the LXXAleph and B are "the same manuscript Bibles."81 Therefore, some New Testament quotes match the LXX because, as Carson writes, "[S]cholars have argued that Vaticanus [B] came from the same hand [as the LXX]."82 Jerome, a contemporary of this 'revision', agreed.
The New International Version (NIV) might more realistically be called Old Origen's Oracles (OOO). NIV committee members, like Bruce K. Waltke, miss the historical background and see the agreement of Aleph, B and the LXX as evidence of their accuracy !83
Even the edition of The Septuagint marketed today points out in its preface that the stories surrounding its B.C. creation and existence are fables.84 All of the LXX manuscripts cited in its concordance were written after A.D. 200. The Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics elaborates calling "the Letter of the pseudo-Aristeas, a manifest forgery and the fragments of Aristobulus, which have also been highly suspect."85 The existence of an entire Greek Old Testament predating the life of Christ has no extant documentation. In fact, only scraps containing a few Old Testament chapters in Greek have ever been found.
'Alexandrianism' is evident throughout Origen's 'Septuagint' as the Encyclopedia's scholars note:
[T]he translators frequently modify the naive anthropomorphisms of the Old Testament, substituting, e.g., the power for the 'hand' of God and His 'glory' for his 'robe' [train] in Isaiah 6:1. In Genesis 1:2 they seize the opportunity to introduce the Platonic distinction of matter and form and in Psalm 51:12 the Stoical [your spirit instead of God's spirit]….intrudes itself.86
The latter Stoical rendering appears in the new versions, which seem determined to have man succeed with his own spirit, rather than God's. Students of Gnosticism, Eastern mysticism and 'The Force' will recognize in the Encyclopedia's comments, the substitution, by the Septuagint, of a 'New Age god' for the God of the Old Testament. Numerous changes in the new versions are simply Origen's neo-platonic 'corrections' of the true Old Testament.
Among translators of the New Testament, we find die-hard 'Origen Fans' on the committee of the New Jerusalem Bible, New English Bible and Revised Standard Version. Even though Pamphilus "corrected" Origen's reading of John 11:25 for Aleph and B, based on P66 and P75 type-texts, these new versions retain Origen's truncated "I am the resurrection" rather than "I am the resurrection and the life." This is done based on Origen and P45, which is notorious for omissions. Origen has provided through his Septuagint Old Testament and New Testament documents, a vehicle for the propagation of the 'East meets West' religion for the 'New' Age.87
The following charts unearth the roots of the nine major New Age philosophies. This corrupt 'tree of knowledge' is rooted in Platonism and branched out to reach Philo, then Clement and finally Origen. Its twisted branches cast a centuries long shadow over today's new versions and 'New' Age Movement. They have sent out seeds which have found soft soil in the 'me' generation. (Quotations are taken from Westcott's Religious Thought in the West or The Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics: "Alexandrian Theology).
MONISM
Plato: Called God "One" and "the Good." Believed [the planet] "was endowed with life and reason." [V]iewed the universe or the individual….[as] the instinctive power of which it is the expression." "It [s]trives necessarily toward unity—the unity of the single being or the unity of the sum of being." Believed "The universe is the thought of the universal mind or the One."
Philo: "God is not a being who can feel anger, jealousy, or repentance."
Clement: "God is a Being….beyond even the One and the Monod." "God knows reality not as external to Himself."
Origen: "Sun, moon and stars are animated and rational, the temporary body of souls which shall hereafter be released from them and finally be brought into the great unity when God shall be all in all….the sum of finite being as unity." "The Individual….exists only as part of the cosmos."
New Versions: God is the 'One' or 'One and Only' instead of masculine pronoun. See chapter 5.
New Age: God is 'the One' or 'One and Only'. See chapter 5.
OFFICE OF CHRIST
Plato: "He called into being Time and the bright Gods of heaven and to them he gave charge of peopling the world…. Thereupon the Supreme Father reposed in his eternal rest and His children fashioned the body of many, imitating as best they could the laws which their Father had followed."
Philo: "In the hierarchy of Powers, the Logos of God is second to God himself." "The Logos is the constitutive principle of human individuality; he himself is not an individual." "[T]he first God" (Logos of Stoics not John's gospel.)
Clement: "[T]he Son is a creature." "[There is a] dependance of Clement on Philo as regards his conception of the Logos." "[H]e taught two, Logoi….[as] a power or energy of God."
Origen: "[T]he Son is less than the Father." "In the Incarnation, the son united Himself with a soul which had remained absolutely pure in its preexistent state."
New Versions: Teach: 1) Christ is a creature, a begotten God, "ranked" beneath God. 2) Separate 'the Christ' (the Logos) from Jesus, calling Christ "itself" not himself.
New Age: Teach: 1) Christ is a creature, a begotten God, "ranked" beneath God. 2) Separate 'the Christ' (the Logos) from Jesus, calling Christ consciousness "itself" not himself.
NEW AGE SPIRITUAL HIERARCHY
Plato: Writes of "hierarchy of beings," "intermediate orders," "interest in oracles and demons." Says "[T]he universe contains many beings more divine than man-daemons and gods, who are daemons of a superior order."
Philo: Believes there are "powers to intermediate." These "powers or ideas are not of equal rank. The highest of them is the Logos."
Origen: "Some by diligent obedience have been raised to the loftiest places in the celestial hierarchy."
New Versions: Call devils, 'demons'. Present a spiritual ranking system with Christ as the highest "rank." Teach salvation by diligent "obedience." Say Jesus was a "son of the gods."
New Age: Calls devils, 'demons'. Presents a spiritual ranking system with Christ as the highest "rank." Teaches salvation by diligent "obedience." Says there is a plurality of "gods."
ELEVATES MAN
Plato: Believes God said, "[I] make them (mortal creatures), they will be like Gods." "[T]he divine principle in me departs in me to unite itself with the divine in the universe."
Clement: "The aim of the Gnostic is to become like God." (The Encyclopedia refers to Clement as a Gnostic.)
Origen: "Their variety tend to the one end of perfection." "All things were made for the sake of man." "The end of life then….is the progressive assimilation of man to God."
New Versions: Replaces the Godhead with a "divine nature." Says man is only "a little lower than God."
New Age: Replaces the Godhead with a "divine nature." Says man is only "a little lower than God."
ILLUMINATION AND INITIATION
Philo: Said, “[I]mmediate communion with 'the first God' in visions, is the result of personal experience."
Clement: "[T]rue gnosis….[is] initiating them first into the lesser and then to greater mysteries." "[M]ystical philosophy [is that]….which could not be fully imparted or even made intelligible to the public." "[I am] initiated by the laver of illumination into the true mysteries."
Origen: Westcott says Origen "[A]imed at presenting the higher knowledge." Believed, "[T]he scriptures are of little use to those who understand them as they are written." "[B]elieved himself to be illuminated."
New Versions: Present a second God, begotten as a God, by the "first" God. "Visions he has seen" are included. Present a progressive salvation.
New Age: Presents a second God, begotten as a God, by the "first" God. "Visions he has seen" are included. Presents a progressive salvation.
REINCARNATION VS. RESURRECTION
Plato: "At their first embodiment, [they]….would be born a man….If he succeeds, he would pass to a home in his kindred star. If he failed at this, at his second birth, he would be a woman, next an animal."
Philo: "The resurrection of the body has no place in his creed." "[H]eaven and hell are within us."
Clement: "[L]ike Origen" “….inclined to believe it [reincarnation]."
Origen: Believed, "[T]he position of each has been determined in accordance with previous conduct."
New Versions: Deny the bodily resurrection of Christ. Transliterate "hell" so that the reader is free to choose his own doctrine regarding the afterlife. Degrades women.
New Age: Denies the bodily resurrection of Christ. Rejects the belief in hell. Teaches progressive evolution and reincarnation.
MAYA (i.e., allegorism, sacramentalism, archetype, Plato's 'ideas'.)
Plato: Wrote that "The universe is the thought of the universal mind or One." "Ideas" "Shadows"
Philo: "Platonic idealism." "The Blessed One must not come into contact with….matter and this is why he used the Immaterial Powers; whose real name is ideas.
Clement: "[The] earthly life of Christ as a grand symbolic drama."
Origen: The "bible is an analogy; compared to a ladder, literal facts are the lowest rung." He "expresses contempt for the literal narrative." Said, 'There is an Eternal Gospel which the actual Gospel is only a shadow."
New Versions: Write of, "The Blessed One." Their editors believe the bible is only "the wrong side" of a beautiful tapestry.
New Age: Write of “the Blessed One.” Express contempt for the "literal" bible.
TIME IS CYCLICAL (No Hell/New Age)
Plato: "[T]he Cosmos….has been subject to the laws of cyclic change." God "recreates the world over and over."
Clement: "Matter is timeless." “[T]here were many worlds before Adam."
Origen: "World grows out of world, so to speak, till the consummation is reached." "[I]t had no beginning….” “[A]ge is linked with age….stages in a majestic progress.” “[M]ore of the total powers of humanity….are brought from age to age."
New Versions: Deny a "beginning" of the world. Present a series of "ages." Deny a final judgement.
New Age: Deny a "beginning" of the world. Present a series of "ages." Deny a final judgement.
PROGRESSION VS. NEW BIRTH
Plato: Wrote of, "that which is always becoming."
Philo: Wrote of, "the potentiality of becoming."
Clement: Wrote of, "salvation as an educational process." (Baptism begins the process.)
Origen: Wrote of, "the progressive training, purifying, and illumination of men….passing from sphere to sphere. …Lower phenomena are successively exclaimed to them and higher phenomena are indicated." There is "progressive and gradual revelation." (Baptism begins the process.)
New Versions: Teach progressive salvation.
New Age: Teach progressive salvation.
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