“For sin … deceived me, and by it slew me.“
(Rom 7:11, KJV)
Readers should not lose sight of the bigger picture within which these current teachings are situated – we are still focusing our attention on the bronze altar, the place where, typologically, the Lamb of God “who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:19) was sacrificed. To come to grips with this notion we had thoroughly examined the nature of this sacrifice, as the bronze altar is a place characterized by the mystery of godliness. Since Day 220 we’ve covered the first aspect of the mystery of godliness, that of God becoming man. There are still a number of these aspects that we need to consider, especially those surrounding the birth of Christ. One of the most important of Satan’s characteristics is the fact that he is a liar (John 8:44), that He has deceived all nations through his lies (Rev 20:3). One of the ways in which he’s been successful in his quest is by twisting the truth of God and Christ, and thereby “changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man—and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things” (Rom 1:23). He achieved this through the process of mythologizing. Webster’s defines it as: “To relate or explain the fabulous history of the heathen.” Where we had a biology lesson and a linguistic lesson in our two previous teachings we today turn our attention to mythology J
The premise of mythologizing is beautifully illustrated in the history of the golden calf. After Israel had first hand experience of the wondrous power and presence of God, Satan still deceived them into erecting a visible totem for an invisible God. This is the source of all mythology. Follow what happens in Ex 32:1-5: “Now when the people saw that Moses delayed coming down from the mountain, the people gathered together to Aaron, and said to him, ‘Come, make us gods that shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.’ And Aaron said to them, ‘Break off the golden earrings which are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.’ So all the people broke off the golden earrings which were in their ears, and brought them to Aaron. And he received the gold from their hand, and he fashioned it with an engraving tool, and made a molded calf. Then they said, ‘This is your god, O Israel, that brought you out of the land of Egypt!’ So when Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it. And Aaron made a proclamation and said, ‘Tomorrow is a feast to the LORD.’”
Satan is well aware of God’s plans with different nations and peoples, and thus creates from within each culture stories similar to that of the virginal birth of Christ, to covertly discredit the authentic one. As example we can consider the ancient Roman tale of how Semele conceived without any contact between her and the father of the child; the god Zeus, bringing forth Dionysus, god of the earth; Babylon religion speaks of a cicada within the priestess Semiramis which brought forth Tammuz; the Sumerian fertility god. Buddha’s mother stated that her son was the product of a great white elephant penetrating her stomach; Hinduism in turn tells of Vishnu who, after his incarnations as fish, tortoise, bear and lion, penetrating the womb of Devaki and transforming into her son Krishna. With these cheap alternative myths Satan has attempted trumping the holy mystery of Christ, millions of people lost as a result of it.
- Sela: How has Christ been mythologized in the Christian church?
- Read: 2 Chr 5; Job 3; Rev 7
- Memorise: Job 3:25
- For a deeper understanding: Read chapters 15 & 23 (Part 1) of Blaise Pascal’s classical text Pensé
