"Scholars accept that the early Christians absorbed certain aspects of the Isis cult into their own movement, such as the concept that a belief in the goddess bestowed eter-
nal life. They also took over many of her temples. One such shrine was at Sais, an old
capital of Egypt, which became a church of the virgin Mary in the 3rd century. A thou-
sand years previously, as a temple to the great goddess Isis, it had carried the inscrip-
tion " I am all that was, that is, and is yet to come" - which later found it's way into the
Book of Revelationn (1:8) as the words of Yahweh.
The influence of the Isis cult can be found openly even in the canonical Gospels. For
example, one of the most famous sayings of Jesus is "Come to me all you who are heavy laden, and I will refresh you.' Because of its offer of comfort and love in the midst of life's struggle, it is often found on posters outside churches, and prefixed by the words "Jesus said". In fact, that very phrase - word for word- was lifted entirely from the sayings of Isis. It can still be seen inscribed over the door to a temple dedicated to her at Dendera. In any case, the succour offered in this sentence is surely that of a mother.
If, as we believe, Jesus and Mary Magdelene were initiates of the Isis and Osiris myster-
ies, then 'Christianity' must have been very different from the patriarchal, God-fearing
religion it soon became...
...The original religion of the Hebrews, like all other ancient cultures, was polytheistic -
venerating both gods and goddeses. Only later did Yahweh emerge as the pre-eminent
deity, and the priests effectively rewrote their history to erase - not very comprehen-
sively - the earlier worship of goddesses. (And, as a result, the status of women declined
sharply, as it did in early Christianity for the same reason.)
The Hungarian born anthropologist and biblical scholar Raphael Patel, in his major work,
'The Hebrew Goddess', has conclusively demonstrated that Jews once worshipped a fe-
male deity. Among the many examples he cites of Hebrew goddess worship is that con-
cerning Solomon's temple: despite the tradition, it was not built to honor Yahweh alone,
but also to celebrate the goddess Asherah. Patai says:
"...the worship of Asherah as the consort of Yahweh...was an integral element
of religious life in ancient Israel prior to the reforms introduced by King Josiah
in 621 BCE (75)"
...Heretical goddess-worshipping Jews continued to thrive in several areas, notably
Egypt. Even in mainstram Judaism, the goddess survived 'under cover' in two main forms. One is the personification of Israel as a woman; the other, the figure of wis-
dom - in Hebrew 'Chokmah', or in Greek, "Sophia'. Although usually explained as an al-
legory for God's divine wisdom, it is clear that Chokmah has another meaning: wisdom
is portrayed as female, and as having co-existed with Yahweh from the beginning.
This figure is now widely acknowledged to have her origins in the goddesses of the sur-
rounding cultures. In particular, Burton L. Mack has uncovered the influence of the Egy-
ptian goddesses Ma'at and Isis."
"The Templar Revelation" L. Pickett and C. Prince
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