AMEN – The Beginning of the Creation of God

AMEN-Creation of God

Hello dear reader,

I begin this article with Figure 1, which provides an overview of how mankind developed the belief in one-universal God.  Few people have had the benefits of being taught history of ancient civilizations and it’s for certain that religious leaders of the Judaic, Christian and Islamic faiths have not instructed their followers about the beginnings of their beliefs.  To learn how these religions developed their beliefs based upon facts and findings, I begin with an opening statement by Jesus Christ from Revelation 3:14, wherein he acknowledged Amen as the beginning of the creation of God.

These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness,              the beginning of the creation of God.

The words of Jesus are profound, albeit, a revelation that has not been acknowledged by Judaic, Christian and Islamic religious leaders.  And yet, they and their followers announce Amen at the end of a prayer, supplication, giving thanks, asking for His protection in challenging times, and reverently sing His name in houses of worship.

It is not my intent to alter your beliefs.  My objective is to inform and educate people about facts that have been surfaced by scholars of religion and highly respected Egyptologists.   They have sacrificed their time and given their lives to surface facts and findings that religious institutions, through ignorance or intent, have not revealed to their followers.

I take you back through the centuries to provide a history of one of the greatest civilizations built by mankind.  In the lands of Egypt, along the Nile River, entered Africans who built homes, irrigation canals, pyramids,  and temples where they worshipped many different gods.  But it was through their beliefs in renewal of the Nile each year that evoked the wonder and veneration for those gods that enriched their lives.  It would be an injustice for me to write in an article a history of how the Africans, later to be called Egyptians after the name of their country, developed the belief in many gods.  They have left a legacy of advancing their multible god beliefs into one-universal God and establishing the first formal religion, which is documented on the walls of their temples, pyramids and obelisks.

For a detailed history of Ancient Egypt, I recommend James H. Breasted book, A History of Egypt.  This book served as the groundwork, along with books  by other great scholars and Egyptologists, that served to widen my knowledge about the beginning of man’s belief in God and the growth of the major religions of today.  To wet your appetite for further study, I have provided Figure 1. Hopefully, it will motivate your curiosity to read Future of God Amen and AMEN, the Beginning of the Creation of God.   These books offer a perspective of man’s development in the belief in God and  bibliographies of the many outstanding books whose authors gave me the gift of knowledge I now impart to you.  Overviews and book reviews are presented on website:

http://www.futureofgodamen.com

Referring to Figure 1, 2600 BCE, I introduce you to the hymn, The Creation by Atum.  Major extracts of this hymn, as with the others that will be mentioned, are provided in the two books referenced above.  Atum was the first god that created the first four gods of the Great Ennead (nine gods): Shu, god of air; Tefnut, god of moisture; Geb, god of earth; and Nut, goddess of the sky.  The Priesthood advanced the idea that their city god Atum-Kheprer, who rose out of the waters of chaos (Nun), brought the first gods into being.   This was a very perceptive concept that recognizes Atum as emanating from two important elements, the heat of the sun, associated with Kheprer and water, associated with Nun.  The Egyptian mind was resourceful and reflective to include the gods of air (Shu) and moisture (Tefnut); for without the elements of air and moisture, life, as we know it, could not be sustained.

A thousand or more years later, between 1550 and 1350 BCE, The high priests of Amon in Thebes wrote A Hymn to Amon-Re.  It professes joy in praise of Amon-Re to the height of heaven and the width of the earth.  With this hymn the Priesthood centralized and unified their religion by worshiping Amon-Re as the supreme god who was the “Maker of all Mankind, Creator and Maker of all that is.” 

By 1370 BCE, Amenhotep IV was the first pharaoh to break with the priesthood’s worship of multiple gods by transforming the sun god Amon-Re into a personal god named Aton, a god that creates and sustains life in all the earth.  Re still was part of the dominate belief of the sun for life on earth but now was envisioned as waves of heat portrayed as emanating hands of life.

Ikhnaton and Nofretete Worshiping Aton

Figure 2.  Amenhotep IV (Ikhnaton) and Nofretete worshiping Aton.

It was during the reign of Ramses II, circa 1270 BCE,  that the Priesthood of Amon wrote, Amon as the Sole God.   The ingenuity of the Egyptian Priesthood cannot be overlooked; with this hymn, they were able to establish Amon as the universal and sole god by advancing the belief that he came into being at the beginning, gave birth to Re and completed himself as Atum, a single body with him.  They therefore closed the circle by linking Amon with Atum, the first Egyptian god; more than 1400 years later.

But an observation needs to be made that it was only twenty years later, in 1250 BCE, that Moses walked out of Egypt extolling the one god belief.  He wrote the Book of the Covenant, which preceded the development of the Torah, The Five Books of Moses, that were started in 950 BCE and  finalized around 444 BCE by Erza and Nehemiah.

Both referenced Amen books above present a detailed history of how the Egyptian Priesthood developed the first one-universal god belief and how people from other lands emulated that belief, which led to the formation of the three major religions.  This one-god belief incorporates many of the Egyptian beliefs which were emulated by the Hebrews, Christians and Moslems.  Such as the belief in a soul, a hereafter attained upon leading a righteous life, a Son of God (the Pharaoh), and after the worship of many gods, the apex of belief – one universal God.

Not acknowledged by religious scholars and leaders is that eight of the Ten Commandments, and many others, were already followed by the Egyptians.  But one of the greatest beliefs, the belief in a soul, originated with the first god of Egypt, Atum.   Many people have assimilated this very complex belief as a natural part of their spiritual beliefs.  However, very few people know where and when this powerful belief in a soul evolved.  The Creation by Atum described Atum’s ka as being imbued into his creations.  It is fair to reason that the concept of a soul, called the ka, was expressed by the Egyptian priesthood with their hymn extolling Atum’s creation.

The idea of a ka had emerged before or during the life of King Ka, who existed a few generations before the start of the First Dynasty, which Egyptologist James H. Breasted dates as 3400 BCE.  By the Sixth Dynasty, approximately eight hundred years later, the priesthood had incorporated the belief of the ka, or soul, in The Creation by Atum. The creation hymn reveals that all created things are protected by the ka of Atum.  Let us visit the lines that state that this creator god put his own vital force into his first creatures.

Thou didst put thy arms about them as the arms of a ka, for thy ka was in them.

To be endowed with an internal force or spirit called the ka from the creator god Atum had a spiritual significance. This vital source must be what gave the created object its unique characteristics or its special force.  Scholars of Egyptian history believe that the ka represents the alter ego, a guardian spirit, or the vital force of personality.  Since the god Atum puts his ka into his creations, it identifies their unique characteristics and attributes. That is, the ka provides those attributes that uniquely form the totality of a living or material substance.  In essence, the ka represents the total makeup of glandular, physical, and mental functions that defines humans and their personality.

I diverged from Figure 1 after indicating that it was Moses’ Book of the Covenant that led to the development of the Torah, also referred to as The Five Books of Moses.  It was the Judaic religion that gave birth to the Christian religion and how that evolution occurred has been documented in the two Amen books mentioned above.  It was Jesus Christ, a man of God, who referred to himself 76 times in the four Gospels as the Son of Man.  He announced a revelation in The Revelation of Saint John that Judaic, Christian, and Islamic religious leaders have not acknowledged throughout the centuries, and continue to be silent even today.

In Revelation 3:14, Jesus proclaimed Amen as, “the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God.”   It is not my interest to change or debate your beliefs for our minds are made up with many different inputs that form our intellect and views.  I only desire to present what I have learned for your own evaluation.  By comparing your instilled values with new information, you may be able to have a greater appreciation for differences that exist and resolve them with logic.

By reading the referenced Amen books, you can gain information to assess and determine if Jesus has indeed provided a revelation for all of us to examine and evaluate as being true.  Much of what I have written in this article may be new to you and therefore difficult to absorb.  Beliefs that have been ingrained into our lives are very difficult to analyze with logic.  But only with facts and findings from the past can we surface the truth.  I will be honored to answer any questions or comments about the contents and findings of this article. Do not hesitate to provide a comment, pro or con; for by presenting our views we will be able to reach a higher level of truth.  Hopefully, such greater understanding will bring peace of mind to those who have conflicting beliefs that need to be resolved.

Before I leave you with an extract of a paper published by the Chute Institute, I would like you to reflect on the main themes presented in the book trailer for Amen.

http://youtu.be/kAf9HaN8HWA

The paper urges our educational institutions to teach our youth about the beginnings of Mankind’s belief in God and how our major religions evolved.  It is through understanding of the past, and an honest, truthful assessment of facts and findings, that we can proceed in our spiritual development and our quest to learn about God.  To achieve this objective, I have provided below an abstract  of the Chute Institute paper titled, Provide History of Religion and God.   It is available on the Internet via the link below:

http://cluteinstitute.com/ojs/index.php/CIER/article/download/7729/7793

ABSTRACT Provide History of Religion and God

There is a need for high school, college, and university educators to introduce their students to a history of mankind’s development of religions and beliefs in God.  Regarded as too sensitive a subject, students are deprived of learning how mankind has evolved ways to establish moral and righteous behavior to maintain harmony among competing groups within a growing community.  Based upon facts and findings surfaced by such respected Egyptologists as James H. Breasted and E.A. Wallis Budge, this author conclusively reveals how the first formal religion of Egypt has been emulated by the Judaic, Christian, and Islamic religions.  Historical findings provide meaningful evidence of the spiritual nature of man, the emergence of one God Amen, the development of the concepts of truth, a soul, hereafter, Son of God, and a universal God. These findings afford greater insights in the fields of theology, humanities, psychology, and sociology studies. More importantly, a greater understanding of the nature of man can energize religious leaders and the public to effect possible solutions with the assistance of those with perceptive minds and love of humanity.

A Father Seeks to Reveal Truths to All

Introduction:

This article has been extracted from the book, Future of God Amen.  As the father of four beautiful, personal, intelligent girls, I wrote about a subject that has been a curiosity  of mine since I was a little boy; who was God and where did He come from?  My curiosity prompted me to attend Catholic, Methodists, Baptists, Protestant, and Jewish houses of worship.  After serving a few years in the Army, I read books by philosophers, religious scholars, and highly respected Egyptologists.  Late in life, that is, upon retiring at the age of 67, I wrote my first book titled, Legacy of a Father.  My attempt was to have my girls remember their father after I am dead by preserving my thoughts and ideas in a book.  But I present this article to you, to better understand me.  It is my desire to reach out to all people to reveal the truth on such subjects as religion, God, the universe, and our purpose in life.

A Father Seeks to Reveal Truths to All

It would be derelict of me not to reveal the truths I have learned by what I have read and by the exchange of ideas with the many people that have entered my life.  Truth can be elusive and may take many years to comprehend based upon real life experiences.  In my reading I have come upon truths by accident and, in many cases, by simply connecting the dots through the application of common sense.  It would be a foolish gamble to wait for somebody else to present the findings I have acquired in my lifetime.  Our lives are made up of too many different events that shape our thoughts.  Be they on an educational, social and personal level, these events combined with our intellect and sensitivity will always present a different color of the way each of us see, interpret life, and develop our thoughts for others to hear or read.

I feel a deep responsibility to educate and prepare my children for the world they live in.  They were the initial motivation for me to write Future of God Amen.  As a father who desires to inform his children of the traps and deceptive ideas propagated around us, I feel obligated to share thoughts that may enable others to get closer to the truths that I have earnestly tried to surface.  It is my nature to be grossly offended when others or I have been made a fool of by means of lies and deceptive ramblings.  However much it hurts, I prefer to always know the truth.  I will not knowingly stand by and let my children made to be fools.  They, and all those who have the courage to examine new avenues of thought, will benefit by getting to know their own God and be less likely to end their spiritual quest in disillusion and separation from God.1

This spiritual element I allude to may simply be love for mankind.  However you may conceive your God, you may be assured that He would rather have you love the people around you than to focus your love on Him.  My responsibility as a father is to educate and prepare my daughters to make their own way in life.  They need not bow down to me, prostrate themselves in a submissive manner, and humble themselves as if I were a God.  They need only to respect me for the love and precious time I have invested to help direct their lives so that they may tap their potential and become strong individuals who can stand on their own two feet.  God may be present, but He cannot do what I and my wife, as father and mother, can do for them.  That is, to have them carry on the legacy of raising wonderful children in this world.

As mere mortals, we may never be able to know the whole truth about God.  We have had our share of prophets and righteous men who endeavored to show their fellow beings how they can lead moral lives.  We shall see in the forthcoming chapters that some have made mistakes in their zeal to impart knowledge about God.  We should not fault them for trying to have us inherit a belief and way of life received through their revelations.  Only by consistently trying to seek the truth, will we be able to have a clearer understanding of the lives we lead and, a more positive and healthy outlook for the future.

Many of us have some doubts about the existence of God.  Others find themselves with a desire to believe in God but unable to accept many religious teachings and traditional mores.  There are others who feel that the concept of God is simply another form of philosophy that tries to find answers to questions of morality and the possibility of an eternal life.  Then there are those who do not want to deal with the concept of God at all.  They may simply follow the rule that is almost equivalent to, “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.”2 and, “It’s nice to be nice.”3

Future of God Amen was not written to deceive my children and my readers.  You will find that every conclusion and assertion made has been grounded in facts and references that have come from reliable sources.  I will not waste my time on gobbledegook to prove a point.  It is love for the truth that gives me the stamina to share my research efforts with you. There is no other agenda in this book than to open your eyes, widen your perceptions, and bring you closer to understanding yourselves and the God in which you believe.

Overviews and book reviews are presented on website:

http://www.futureofgodamen.com

1  God may be your own personal god that is not bound to a particular religious faith.  God is therefore not conceived in the same way by each person and is formed by one’s own sensibilities, intellect, acquired beliefs and knowledge.

2  Holy Bible, King James Version, Gospel of Matthew 22: 39

3  Anonymous