Jesus Attacks the Meat Industry, the
Creature-Killers:
Jesus chases the animals to be sacrificed
out of the temple
so they will not be sacrificed.
"The Passover
of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple
he
found those who were
selling oxen and sheep and pigeons, and the money-changers at their
business. And making
a whip of cords, he drove them all, with the sheep and oxen, out of the
temple; and he poured
out the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables." John
2: 13-15.
The Mission of Jesus is to Abolish the
Animal Sacrifices.
The Real Reason for the
Cleansing of the Temple:
Jesus wanted to abolish
the animal sacrifices,
To destroy the lie that
animal sacrifices took away sin,
And to replace that lie
With the fact that the
animal sacrifices were themselves sinful.
"For it is impossible
that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sins." "Consequently,
when Christ came into
the world, he said, "Sacrifices and offerings thou hast not desired, but
a
body hast thou prepared
for me; in burnt offerings and sin offerings thou hast taken no
pleasure. Then
I said, `Lo, I have come to do thy will, O God,' as it is written of me
in the roll
of the book." "Epistle
to the Hebrews," 10: 4-7.
The Double Evil of the Animal Sacrifices:
They are both cruel to the animals
as well as
Promoting disease among humans.
Jesus statement:
"I have come that you may have life
and have it more abundantly."
was an affirmation that a virtuous
life was a long life.
It echoes Moses' statement that obeying
God's word will
Lengthen one's days on earth.
Moses and the vegetarian Essenes lived
to 120 years.
Psalm 90 written by Moses states that
the normal lifespan for the carnivorous Jew is three-score years and ten
or seventy years.
Moses criticizes the Israelites craving
for flesh in Exodus.
The Variant Names of the Essenes all
Refer to Shiva or Sheba,
The Renunciate Deity of the original
Jews.
Osseans is derived from Osseo.
Jesseans is derived from Jesse or Yishaiy,
i.e. Isa.
Essaio is derived from Isa.
Essene is derived from Isana or Asani.
Osseo, Isa, Isana, Asani are all names
of Shiva or Sheba.
Philo, Josephus
and Pliny the Elder affirm the longevity of the Essenes, many of whom were
centenarians. The Essenes denounced the animal sacrifices and were vegetarian.
Moreover, as is seen in the Hymns of the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Deity of
the Essenes was compassionate towards all of the creatures it created.
The Essenes remained true to the original vegetarian covenant of Genesis
1: 29-30, and not to the false covenant of Genesis 9: 2-3. The various
designations for Essenes are derived from the names of Shiva or Sheba,
God of seven worlds, seven rivers, seven mountains, after whom the Shabbath,
or Sabbath, the seventh day, was named. Zechariah Sitchin in Lost Realms
says that Elishiva in Canaan meant "My God is seven. Epiphanius described
the Essenes as Osseans, which is derived from Oseo, a name of Shiva. Epiphanius
also described the Essenes as Jesseans, which is derived from Jesse, or
Yishaiy in Hebrew, which is also the souce of the names Isaiah and Joshua
or Yeshua. Isa is one of the names of Shiva and we see the Isa root in
Yishaiy and Isaiah. Isa or Issa is the name by which Jesus
was known to the Tibetans, Hindus and Muslims.
The cleansing
of the temple was not simply an attempt to attack a non-effective means
of
atoning for sins, nor
was it Jesus' revolt against conducting business in the temple, which is
the
superficial explanation
given in the New Testament, based on the scriptures: "you shall
not make my Father's house a house of trade....you have made it a den of
robbers."
Jesus,
like a good militant Hindu or Buddhist, put his body on the line against
the cruelty of
the animal sacrifices
of orthodox Judaism, and against profiting from such cruelty and
unhealthy nutrition.
Orthodox Judaism was then and still is today daily involved in oppressing
and slaughtering flesh
and blood, feeling creatures, created by an all-compassionate God.
The
elders, priests, and
patriarchs who profited from the animal sacrifices plotted Jesus' death
after
this event (Mark: 11:
18).
The Orthodox Interpretation:
Jesus was merely disputing
the location of the sacrifices,
Not the sacrifices themselves.
According
to the orthodox interpretation of the cleansing of the temple, Jesus was
protesting
that the sacrifices should
occur outside rather than inside the temple. The orthodox
interpretation is absurd.
A charismatic person like Jesus, if he had been carnivorous and in
favor of the animal sacrifices,
would, like a good orthodox Jew, simply have asked to consult
with the priests and
patriarchs of orthodoxy, if the location of the sacrifices had been the
issue.
The intelligence,
emotional stability, and mission of Jesus are all demeaned by the orthodox
interpretation, which
makes Jesus appear as a hot-headed zealot catalyzing the Jewish
establishment to kill
him for a superficial reason.
The Purpose of Orthodox
Superficiality:
To Disguise the Truth,
Namely that Jesus was Vegetarian
And did not Affirm that
"All foods are Clean."
The superficiality
of the orthodox interpretation had a definite purpose. For those concocting
the New Testament,
and those wishing to promote the notion that "all foods are clean"
had to explain away the obvious purpose of the cleansing of the temple,
which, as we can see by reading Roman documents about the Christians written
in the next three centuries, was a crucial event in the minds of the earliest
Christians, who understood it for what it is: Jesus' protest against the
animal sacrifices. Orthodox Christians, accustomed, even addicted,
to eating flesh, and desiring to sanction their habit or addiction by pointing
to scriptures asserting that "all foods are clean," totally ignore the
stated mission of Jesus as stated in the "Epistle to the Hebrews," namely
that it was his divine mission to abolish the animal sacrifices.
The Real Reason for the
Cleansing of the Temple:
Jesus wanted to abolish
the animal sacrifices,
To destroy the lie that
animal sacrifices took away sin,
And to replace that lie
With the fact that the
animal sacrifices were themselves sinful.
As a Nazarene
Jew, Jesus was quite aware that the vegetarian Nazarenes were cursed in
the
synagogues, and that
the rich Jewish elite, the patriarchs who owned cattle, were involved in
the meat industry of
the day. After the animals were sacrificed in the temple, they were
dismembered, butchered
into smaller segments, then circulated in Jerusalem and elsewhere
where they were sold.
The meat industry was then, just as it is now, a profitable industry, and
then, just as now, the
elite establishment, the wealthy, were those who profited most, though
all those involved shared
in the profits to a lesser extent.
I ask
the reader, especially the young, or the open-minded orthodox reader, to
study
carefully the following
scriptures, for they show without any doubt that it was Jesus' mission
to
abolish the animal sacrifices,
the burnt offerings. Moreover, in context of what the scriptures
say occurred, namely
the execution of Jesus by crucifixion, we can see the scripture writer
was aware that the statement
of Jesus' mission was in fact an "exhortation to martyrdom."
From "Epistle to the Hebrews:"
"For it is impossible
that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sins." "Consequently,
when Christ came into
the world, he said, "Sacrifices and offerings thou hast not desired, but
a
body hast thou prepared
for me; in burnt offerings and sin offerings thou hast taken no
pleasure. Then
I said, `Lo, I have come to do thy will, O God,' as it is written of me
in the roll
of the book." "Epistle
to the Hebrews," 10: 4-7.
"For since the
law has but a shadow of the good thing to come instead of the true form
of
these realities, it can
never, by the same sacrifices which are continually offered year after
year, make perfect those
who draw near. Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be
offered? If the
worshipers had once been cleansed, they would no longer have any
consciousness of sin.
But in these sacrifices there is a reminder of sin year after year."
10: 1-3.
The
above scriptures are the essence of the "Epistle to the Hebrews," for most
of the rest of
the epistle evades the
critical issues raised by the above scriptures.
JESUS WAS A NAZARENE
Orthodox Christians Have
Suppressed the Fact
That the Nazarenes were
Vegetarians.
The Orthodox Commitment
against seeing Vegetarianism
As a Teaching of Jesus
Even a Saint of the Roman
Catholic Church, Epiphanius
in his Panarion
admits that the earliest followers of Jesus
were called Essenes and
Nazarenes.
Saint Epiphanius in his Panarion admits that the earliest followers of Jesus were called Essenes and Nazarenes.
Attached to the "Clementine Recognitions," is another suppressed piece of Christian history which perfectly confirms the information given in the Panarion. It is a curse against the vegetarian Nazarenes and Essenes that every Jew converting to orthodox Christianity in some of the eastern churches had to recite:
"I anathematize the Nazareans,
the stubborn ones, who deny that the law of sacrifices was
given by Moses, who abstain
from eating living things, and who never offer sacrifice. I
anathematize the Osseans,
the blindest of all men, who use other Scriptures than the Law."
Quoted from page 398,
The
Conflict of the Church and Synagogue, by James Parkes.
INRI
Jesus the Nazarene, King
of the Jews
Jesus the Nazarene was
changed to Jesus of Nazareth
In order to disguise
the Vegetarianism of Jesus.
The term
Nazarene in Jesus' time referred to a vegetarian religious group who were
well
known for opposing the
animal sacrifices. A number of scholars argue that Nazareth, if it
existed at all during
Jesus' day, could not have been his family's home because of its distance
from the places where
Jesus preached and congregated. Most scholars readily acknowledge
that Nazareth was not mentioned by historians or chronicles until well
after Jesus' time. Another group of scholars affirms that Nazareth got
its name from the fact that it was an area that had been inhabited by Nazirites
and Nazarenes. Either way scholars do not dispute the vegetarianism
of the Nazarenes. "Jesus the Nazarene" was changed to "Jesus of Nazareth"
by orthodox Christians after the Romans took over because they did not
want to associate Jesus with the well-known and well documented vegetarian
Nazarenes.
INRI, the sign on the
cross, should be read as
Jesus the Nazarene, King
of the Jews.
INRI, the
sign on the cross above Jesus' head should logically be translated as Jesus
the
Nazarene, King of the
Jews. The location of Jesus' home would have been irrelevant
information to be put
on the cross, for Jesus was obviously well-known in the area, whereas the
fact that Jesus was one of the Nazarenes, who were hated by orthodox Jews
because they protested against the animal sacrifices, was totally relevant
information that justified his crucifixion in their eyes. A crucified
Nazarene was a defeated enemy, an answer to the prayers of the orthodox.
Epiphanius in his
Panarion described orthodox Jews as praying three times a day for the
destruction of the Nazarenes.
The curse: "Let the Nazarenes and the heretics perish as in a
moment, let them be blotted
out of the book of the living and let them not be written with the
righteous." (quoted in
Marcel Simon's Jewish Sects At the Time of Jesus, Fortress Press,
Philadelphia, 1967, page
136.) See Psalm 69: 28.
When one
reads that some scriptures are described as Apocryphal, Gnostic, or
Pseudoepigraphical, one
of the main things to remember is that all these terms are meant to
express the fact that
these works are not accepted by the orthodox, that is, by those who are
in
power now. The victors
write history; the victors write scriptures; the victors write your
educational curriculum.
Therefore it is absolutely necessary to study what is not orthodox, to
go where no orthodox mind has gone.
There is
a growing number of objective scholars who look realistically at the epistles
of Paul,
and the Gospels and epistles
in general and understand that Paul and the Romans attempted
to undermine the egalitarianism
and vegetarianism that existed among the earliest Christians. Among these
scholars are Baigent and Leigh, authors of Deception and the Dead Sea
Scrolls, and Robert Eisenman, author of James the Brother of Jesus.
Jesus often quoted late Jewish prophets
Who denounced the Animal Sacrifices
And who were vegetarian.
This is a short
survey of the later prophets. For a longer study consult other pages on
this web
site dealing with the
individual prophets. Some editions of all of the prophets' books
of scriptures may be downloaded freely on the web.
Zechariah
The Cleansing of the Temple and Zechariah's teachings.
Zechariah not only
denounces animal sacrifices, but he looks at the profit motive of the
cattlemen who kill their
cattle in 11: 4-5,
"Thus said the Lord my
God: "Become shepherd of the flock doomed to slaughter. Those who
buy them slay them and
go unpunished; and those who sell them say, `Blessed be the Lord, I
have become rich'; and
their own shepherds have no pity on them." 11: 4-5.
We can see
in the above scripture the same recognition by Zechariah, that orthodox
Judaism
was an evil shepherd
not caring for the creatures of God, but killing them and selling their
flesh to eat. Jesus,
in contrast, manifests the Good Shepherd who cares for his flock and
doesn't want the creatures
in his flock killed. Therefore he cleansed the temple.
Jesus scatters the animals
who were to be sacrificed in the temple.
The bad shepherds are
those who are profiting
from the killing and
eating of God's creatures.
"Awake, O sword, against
my shepherd, against the man who stands next to me," says the Lord
of hosts. "Strike
the shepherd, that the sheep may be scattered." Zechariah 13: 7.
My anger is hot against the shepherds...10: 3.
...and I will make an
end of the pride of Philistia. I will take away its blood from its
mouth, and
its abominations from
between its teeth; it too shall be a remnant for our God. 9: 6-7.
Zechariah's name
is Z'akharya in the Peshitta Aramaic. Z'akharya contains the word Acharya,
which in Sanskrit means
one who knows the rules, a holy teacher. Zechariah's name itself is
testimony to the Hindu
(and vegetarian) origins of Judaism and Jewish Christianity.
Isaiah
"Hear the word of the
Lord you rulers of Sodom! Give ear to the teaching of our God, you
people of Gomorrah!
What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices? says the Lord; I have had
enough of burnt offerings
of rams and the fat of fed beasts; I do not delight in the blood of
bulls, or of lambs, or
of he-goats." 1: 10-11.
"...even though you make
many prayers, I will not listen; your hands are full of blood. Wash
yourselves, make yourselves
clean; remove the evil of your doings from before my eyes; cease
to do evil, learn to
do good; seek justice, correct oppression... l: l5-17.
"You have not... satisfied
me with the fat of your sacrifices. But you have burdened me with
your sins, you have wearied
me with your iniquities." 43: 24.
"He who slaughters an
ox is like him who kills a man." Isaiah 66:3.
Hosea
"For I desire steadfast
love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God, rather than burnt
offerings. But
at Adam they transgressed the covenant; there they dealt faithlessly with
me."
Hosea 6: 6-7.
"They love sacrifice;
they sacrifice flesh and eat it; but the Lord has no delight in them."
Hosea
8: l3.
Jeremiah
"And I will doubly recompense
their iniquity and their sin, because they have polluted my land
with the carcasses of
their detestable idols, and have filled my inheritance with their
abominations."
16: 17-18.
Baruch
"Take courage, my people,
O memorial of Israel! It was not for destruction that you were sold
to the nations, but you
were handed over to your enemies because you angered God. For you
provoked him who made
you by sacrificing to demons and not to God." 4: 5-7.
"He who prepared the earth
for all time filled it with four-footed creatures." 3: 32.
Amos
"I hate, I despise your
feasts, and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies. Even though
you offer me your burnt
offerings...I will not accept them and the peace offerings of your fatted
beasts I will not look
upon. 5: 2l-22.
"Woe to those who lie
upon beds of ivory and stretch themselves upon their couches, and eat
lambs from the flock,
and calves from the midst of the stall..." 6: 4.
Micah
Destroying the Temples
of Animal Sacrifice In Jerusalem and Samaria
Sacrificing Animals,
Carnivorism, is Idol Worship
"What is the transgression
of Jacob? Is it not Samaria? And what is the sin of the
house of
Judah? Is it not
Jerusalem? Therefore I will make Samaria a heap in the open
country, a
place for planting vineyards;
and I will pour down her stones into the valley and uncover her
foundations. All her
images shall be beaten to pieces, all her hires shall be burned
with fire, and all her
idols I will lay waste..." 1: 6-7.
"With what shall I come
before the Lord, and bow myself before God on high? Shall I come
before him with burnt
offerings, with calves a year old? Will the lord be pleased with
thousands of rams....Shall
I give my first-born for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the
sin of my soul? He has
showed you, O man what is good; and what does the Lord
require of you but to
do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?"
6:
6-8.
Daniel
Daniel and the Vegetarian
Covenant
Daniel's vision of the
tree of vegetation feeding all creatures in Gen: 1: 29-30.
"The visions of my head
as I lay in bed were these: I saw, and behold, a tree in the midst of the
earth; and its height
was great. The tree grew and became strong, and its top reached to
heaven, and it was visible
to the end of the whole earth. Its leaves were fair and its fruit
abundant, and it was
food for all. The beasts of the field found shade under it, and
the birds of the air
dwelt in its branches, and all flesh was fed from it. 4: 10-12.
Daniel and Friends are clear-headed eating vegetation.
The king's seers, eating the king's rich food, i.e. flesh, are not.
"Then Daniel said to the steward whom the chief of eunuchs had appointed
over Daniel,
Hanani'ah, Mish a el
and Azariah, "Test your servants for ten days; let us be given vegetables
to eat and water to drink.
Then let our appearance and the appearance of the youths who
eat the king's rich food
be observed by you, and according to what you see deal with your
servants." So he
hearkened to them in this matter and tested them for ten days. At
the end of
ten days it was seen
that they were better in appearance and fatter in flesh than all the youths
who ate the king's rich
food. So the steward took away their rich food and the wine they
were
to drink and gave them
vegetables." 1: 11-16.
The king tests Daniel and his vegetarian friends:
"In every matter of wisdom
and understanding he found them ten times better than all the
magicians and enchanters
that were in all his kingdom." 1: 20.
Joel
"Behold, I am sending to you grain, wine and oil, and you shall be satisfied... 2: l9.
"Fear not, you beasts
of the field, for the pastures of the wilderness are green; the tree bears
its
fruit, the fig tree and
the vine give their full yield." 2: 22.
"And it shall come to
pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit on all flesh..." 2:
28.
Ezekiel
"Then I said, Ah lord
God! behold, I have never defiled myself; from my youth up till now I
have never eaten what
died of itself or was torn by beasts, nor has foul flesh come into my
mouth." 4: 14.
"Thus says the Lord God,
Behold, I am against the shepherds; and I will require my sheep at
their hand, and put a
stop to their feeding the sheep; no longer shall the shepherds feed
themselves. I will
rescue my sheep from their mouths, that they may not be food for them."
34:
10.
"On that day I swore to
them that I would bring them out of the land of Egypt into a land that
I
had searched out for
them, a land flowing with milk and honey, the most glorious of all lands.
And I said to them, Cast
away the detestable things your eyes feast on, every one of you, and
do not defile yourselves
with the idols of Egypt; I am the Lord your God. But they rebelled
against me and would
not listen to me; they did not every man cast away the detestable things
their eyes feasted on,
nor did they forsake the idols of Egypt." 20: 6-8.
Above Ezekiel is
referring to the incident of the Israelites who craved flesh and received
it in
the form of quails. After
eating the quail, many Israelites became sick and died. It was a
capsule lesson of the
real Moses' teaching: be true to God's vegetarian covenant, for it will
mean the length of your
days, that is, that you will live longer.
The above descriptions of
Jesus cleansing the temple,
Jesus' mission being to abolish the
animal sacrifices,
the scriptures denouncing animal sacrifices
from the vegetarian prophets whom Jesus
quotes,
should be juxtaposed
with the following events from the
life of Buddha.
They show a similar purpose in the
lives of both men.
Both had missions to abolish acts of
harm towards God's creatures.
Buddha releases a lamb about to be sacrificed.
The Spirit of Ahimsa is to be extended
to all creatures,
not just humans.
"The spirit of Ahimsa (non-violence) was ever present with Gautama from his very childhood. One day, his cousin Devadatta shot a bird. The poor creature was hurt and fell to the ground. Gautama ran forward, picked it up and refused to hand it over to his cousin. The quarrel was taken up before the Rajaguru who, however, decided in favour of Gautama to the great humiliation of Devadatta.
In his wanderings, Gautama one day saw a herd of goats and sheep winding their way through a narrow valley. Now and then the herdsman cried and ran forward and backward to keep the members of the fold from going astray. Among the vast flock Gautama saw a little lamb, toiling behind, wounded in one part of the body and made lame by a blow of the herdsman. Gautama's heart was touched and he took it up in his arms and carried it saying, "It is better to relieve the suffering of an innocent being than to sit on the rocks of Olympus or in solitary caves and watch unconcerned the sorrows and sufferings of humanity". Then, turning to the herdsman he said, "Whither are you going, my friend, with this huge flock so great a hurry ?". "To the king's palace" said the herdsman, "We are sent to fetch goats and sheep for sacrifice which our master - the king - will start tonight in propitiation of the gods." Hearing this, Gautama followed the herdsman, carrying the lamb in his arms. When they entered the city, word was circulated that a holy hermit had brought the sacrifices ordered by the king. As Gautama passed through the streets, people came out to see the gracious and saintly figure of the youth clad in the yellow robes of a Sadhu (renunciate) and all were struck with wonder and awe at his noble mien and his sweet expression. The king was also informed of the coming of the holy man to the sacrifice. When the ceremonies commenced in the presence of the king, there was brought a goat ready to be killed and offered to the gods. There it stood with its legs tied up and the high priest ready with a big bloodthirsty knife in his hand to cut the dumb animal's throat. In that cruel and tragic moment, when the life of the poor creature hung by a thread, Gautama stepped forward and cried, "Stop the cruel deed, O king!". And as he said this, he leaned forward and unfastened the bonds of the victim. "Every creature" he said, "loves to live, even as every human being loves to preserve his or her life". The priest then threw the knife away like a repentant sinner and the king issued a royal decree throughout the land the next day, to the effect that no further sacrifice should be made in future and that all people should show mercy to birds and beasts alike." From teachings/ahimsa.htm
Those aware of Hinduism know that the majority of Hindus venerating the main avatars of Hinduism, such Shiva, Krishna, Kali, Uma, are vegetarian. There are, however, carnivorous Hindu sects worshipping Kali and Shiva.
In any case, it should now be easy to see how Jesus fit in the pattern
set by the prophets following the true covenant of Judaism, the covenant
of Genesis 1: 29-30, which is a covenant of ahimsa towards all creatures.
It is dramatically the opposite of the absurd covenant of Genesis 9: 2-3.