The Secret of Ancient Religion Revealed. by Ernest L. Martin [1982]

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In most cases, every deity worshipped by pagan peoples was recognized as having once been a human who had been thoroughly transformed at death into a powerful divinity now living in heaven! Even the early chapters of Genesis acknowledge that the early heroes of men (the mighty men of old, giants — not only in stature but in prestige) were now the "gods" of the pagans.

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There were numerous other humans who lived on earth during the time of Nimrod and later who were given divine honors by the pagans. The Egyptian god Osiris and goddess Isis were reckoned by the Egyptians as two of their former human rulers (Diodorus Siculus, Bk. I, ch. i). And this is customarily the way it was among most of the civilized pagan peoples. Their gods and goddesses were believed to have been humans now deified.

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The greatest fears of the priest were realized. The information in the letter leaked out (probably by Alexander himself) and within a few months the whole civilized world was aware of what only a privileged few were once permitted to know. This disclosure was beneficial to Alexander’s plan of uniting the world under a common leadership — under his Greco-Macedonian culture! And it worked! But the discovery also caused the common people to want the same deification that earlier people had secured. This now looked possible. Since it was clear that the deities were once humans, then why could not common people (let alone kings, priests, philosophers, etc.) be also deified?

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This new discovery had a two-fold effect. It made the common people feel that they could also reach a similar deification at their deaths if they would perform virtuous deeds like the ancients. Secondly it fully transformed the "Mystery System" of the earlier times in which only initiates were allowed knowledge of the "secrets" of the gods as revealed by the priests. So complete was the change that hardly an oracle (pagan shrine) had an active clientele participating in the ancient forms of religion by the time of Christ. After all, most people already knew what the "Mysteries" were designed to teach, so there was no need to go to the oracles for that knowledge.

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The secret to ancient paganism is now disclosed. It was done as early as the time of Alexander the Great. Strangely, the heathen teachings that should have been jettisoned centuries ago are still with us today — and firmly entrenched within the very fabric of modern Christianity!

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Remarkably, some of those early pagan gods and goddesses are none other than people of the Bible that God dealt with in a personal way in the patriarchal period.

Take for example the ancient pagan god Cronus. This early Phoenician author Sanchoniathon states that Cronus went about the world establishing settlements and colonies. He gave the best part of Greece to his daughter Athena. But he did more than that. Sanchoniathon said, "Cronus offered up his only son as a sacrifice and circumcised himself, and forced his allies to do the same."

This account is so reminiscent of the chief events in the life of Abraham that there can be little doubt that the pagan Cronus was none other than a mixed-up version of Abraham — the father of the faithful! And recall, Abraham sent the twelve children of Ishmael into the areas south and east of Palestine, and his six sons of Keturah into the east country to settle and colonize those areas (Genesis 25:1–18 ). The Phoenicians knew that Cronus did the same thing but they had some of his descendants going into Greek areas. 3 The offspring of Cronus went to Crete, from thence to Troy (some of them), and all over Greece. Many of these stories are vague (often being mixed-up tales) but remnants of truths can be seen here and there within them. 4 It may be astonishing to realize, but the historical Zeus (one of the major gods of the Greeks and the Romans) was none other than a literal descendant of Abraham who went to Crete and established a kingdom for himself.

The fact is, God told Abraham that he was to become a "father of many nations" (not only of the Jews and Israelites), and that many famous kings of the world would issue forth from him (Genesis 17:4–6). It can be shown from history that some of the later Parthian kings, who were the chief adversaries of the Roman Empire in the time of Christ, were descendants of Abraham. 5 Indeed, even the Austrian Chronicle (which has a confused history of peoples who first lived in the Danube valley region) says that an Abraham had a prime influence in the early colonization of that area...

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Sanchoniathon said that a man by the name of Hypsuranius (a name signifying High-Heaven) took up an abode in the city of Tyre.

"And he fell into enmity with his brother Usous, who first made clothing for the body of the skins of the wild beasts which he could catch."

It is plain that this Usous of the Phoenicians is the biblical "Esau" — the brother of Jacob. Note that the Bible says that Esau was a hairy man (like that of an animal), and that Jacob received the blessings and birthright of Esau by deceiving his father by putting on animal skins (Genesis 27). Even the prestigious Dictionary of Religion and Ethics (vol. XI. p. 179) states that there is no question but that this Usous within the Phoenician pantheon was the biblical "Esau."

Sanchoniathon said that the god Usous (Esau) was the one who taught the Phoenicians the art of ship-building and navigation. The other name for Esau was Edom (meaning "Red" ). The Greek name for "Red" was Erythras, and it was recognized in ancient times that a King Erythras was one who made sailing vessels. 7 The Red Sea near Egypt and also the arm of the Indian Ocean called the Persian Gulf was named after this King Erythras (Edom). Usous was the one who inspired the Phoenicians on the Mediterranean to do the same. Really, both were the same man! Jewish beliefs also thought that Esau helped to colonize Tyre and that his descendants became some of the Phoenicians who settled North Africa and parts of Spain. 8