Mani (216 - 276 A.D.)

Mani was a prophet and the founder of a gnostic religion than became known as Manichaeism, a religion that was once widespread but it now extinct.  He was born in around Seleucia-Ctesiphon in Assyria (modern-day Iraq).

He received visions at the ages of 12 and 24 telling him to leave his father's Jewish Christian sect and to teach the true message of Christ.  From there he traveled to India and Afghanistan and may have been influenced by Buddhism.  When he returned in 242 A.D. he became favoured by King Shapur, yet when Bahram succeeded to the throne everything changed, Bahram was a supporter of Zoroastrian movement and persecuted the Manichaeans, Mani was caught and put in prison and later crucified.

It is said that he wrote seven works, although none of these have survived in their complete form, they include the Mani-Codex and the Book of Giants.  His teachings that have survived tell us that he believed that good and evil existed in a constant struggle.  He believed that salvation was possible through education, self-denial, fasting and chastity.  He claimed to be the last of the prophets, and followed the teachings of other prophets; Seth, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Nikotheos, Zoroaster, Buddha and Jesus.

Old Document Review 'The Book of Enoch'

The Book of Enoch has survived in various copies, although only exists in complete form in the langauge of Ge'ez. It oldest surviving copy has been dated to have been written somewhere between 300 B.C. and 100 A.D. , although it could be said that it originates from earlier texts (unfortunately there is no proof of such a statement). It was rejected by Judaism and Christianity due to its content, despite the book being refered to by Jude 14-15.

Indeed there are some strange things that are said in the book which could paint a different view on some important issue. The book basically covers the story of Enoch and his family, mentioning his grandfather, his sons and grandsons.

The first strange notion is that mankind was supposed to not step outside nature, and it was the leaving of nature that brought with it a curse. In fact the Adam & Eve story is painted totally different “tree of wisdom...they learnt wisdom...eyes were opened...they knew that they were naked”.

The second strange notion is that it claims the cause of the Great Flood as being something which caused a smell of sulphur, that there was a great melting of ice which re-froze afterwards (a melting of the ice caps?). A third suggestions was that there is amention that they did not eat blood, basically meaning that they were all vegetarians.

The book also contains detailed knowledge of days of the year, varying lengths of the days between winter and summer, with reference to portals (maybe some stone alignment like Stone Henge), carries on to explain the moon cycles in the year and another planetary object (most likely mars), also aware of Solar Storms that work in cycles of varying violence.

Enoch (7106 - 6741 B.C.)

The story of Enoch the Scribe is only briefly mentioned in the Bible, yet his story is told elsewhere such as the Book of the Giants.  For this article I will refer only to that which is said about Enoch in the Book of Enoch and the Fragment of the Book of Noah.  He was seventh generation from Adam and also the grandfather of Noah.

The story starts as two hundred angels descended from heaven following the one but bound by an agreement to him, the angels took women and taught them secrets of herbology, astrology, forging of metals, how to write and other secrets.  But the women gave birth to giants who could not be sustained by the supplies of the community, so the giants turned against men, making war.

So Enoch was given visions and was told that because of the wickedness the Deluge would come to punish the wicked.  So he was given power over the 200 and the wicked and he took the message to declare the coming destruction to the two hundred, the giants and the wicked.  But they pleaded with him for mercy, and so he promised them to make a petition of their behalf.  But their petition was refused and their fate was decided.

The story carries on, telling how he sought wisdom "I wish to know about everything" and so angels come and start to teach him knowledge about everything., although sometimes the vision become too much for him to bear.  He is shown the places where the 200 will go for imprisonment.  He is shown where souls go after death, the good separated from the bad and is shown how the spirits of the giants will become the evil spirits as they are neither man nor angel (angel as in the 200).

Then he was shown all the secrets of the earth and the universe, the laws of the universe and then a vision of the end of all things.  He is then shown the future, of the one who will be like the Lamb (Jesus) and everything that happens between the deluge and Jesus concerning his descendants.  One prophecy relates to the moon changing orbit and stars changing position suggesting a polar shift.

At the end Enoch spoke to his family in regards to all his knowledge, and his son Methuselah is taught and given Enoch's books of knowledge and from there Noah is taught, books are to be kept safe to ensure safety for future, one book contains a complete doctrine of wisdom.  Then he was taken from the earth and did not die like all other men.

Old Document Review 'The Prophecy of the Tiburtine Sibyl'

This old document forms part of the Mirabilis liber which is a collection of prophecies from various sources and anthologies.  This part of the collection is said to be a surviving prophecy of the Tiburtine Sibyl, that she was one of ten Sibyls and that she is called Cassandra and lived for 367 years and traveled across many parts of the world from Asia to Africa and Europe.

There are a lot of similarities between this continuous prophecy and the prophecy by Bishop Bemechobus and seems to biblical based, however there are some very stark differences which have no apparent biblical links.  The story tells us of how she came to Rome where she was asked to interpret a dream, and so she took them up into the mountain and told them that 'The nine suns that you saw signify all the generations that are to come' and then she goes on to tell them what some of the things that are in store for some of these generations.  This is somewhat similar in a way to the belief of the Mayans that there are nine generations.

She goes on to list rulers and princes and successors to a point where there shall be 'wars between Christians and the pagans' in a time where 'Men shall be greedy and false and truth shall disappear'.  She lists a number of disasters including islands swallowed up by floods (Japan?) and bloodshed and earthquakes and so on.

Then she says that after all the wars that a king shall reign over the Greeks and French and Romans for a hundred and twelve years, at which point the Antichrist will appear and cause havoc.  Followed by the army from the north and the two witnesses Elias and Enoch, and the Antichrist will be killed by Michael.  Then the king (Christ) shall return 'through the spheres'.  And all mankind will be judged before earth is then finally destroyed.  What I find intriguing is that if the references to war are actually meant to represent World War 2 then if you add 112 years (of the UN) to 1945 you end up with 2057, and the Antichrist is said to rule for three years which gives you the end of the world being 2060, the exact same year which Isaac Newton came up with in his mathematical formula based upon the Book of Daniel > one word > hmmm

To read about the other prophecies in Mirabilis liber CLICK HERE

Old Document review 'The Prophecy of Bishop Bemechobus'

This old document forms part of the Mirabilis liber which is a collection of prophecies and anthologies that was published in 1522.  This part, written by a Syrian bishop forms one complete prophecy based solely upon a biblical background.

The prophecy tells of a war started by 'the arms of the south' that will cause much devastation to Northern Africa and much of Europe, and that this will be a religious war where Christians will be subject to many horrors.  Next the Christians fight back and win back their homelands and 'Peace and tranquility shall be reborn on earth' where the age that people live to shall increase drawing near to the amounts of years which Noah lived.  

Then another war, an army from the North with so many men that they are referred to as a plague that devour anything from snakes to humans and they shall capture Greece and much of the middle-east and they will rule of Jerusalem for seven years, then the Antichrist will appear and show many miracles to the world.  Then the two witnesses(Elias and Enoch) will come and attack the Antichrist, and then follows this is the return of Christ.

To read more about the other prophecies in Mirabilis liber CLICK HERE

Sambethe (estimated to have lived from 5000B.C.)

Sambethe, otherwise known as the Persian Sibyl or the Hebrew Sibyl lived from about 5000 B.C. And is believed to be the first ever Sibyl (meaning prophetess). Some of the books of the Sibylline oracles is attributed to her, and in which she identifies her family; father Gnostos, mother Circe, sister Isis. More interestingly, in the oracles she is identified as the daughter-in-law of Noah which places her at being in existence at the time of the Great Flood.

Technically she has married into the family of Enoch (the first prophet) who was the grandfather of Noah's wife, a family very knowledgeable in the ways of the prophet. As I researched the names of Noah's family further, the more varied the possible names became, it seems that each religion that recorded the story of Noah gives different possible names for his wife and his son's wives, and some religions even give multiple possible names. I do not wish to get dragged into a debate about Noah here so I will leave this part of the discussion till another time.

Again the topic comes up about the ages people lived to in those days, as various documents that mention Sambethe, mention that she lived many centuries. And as we all know loads of people in the Bible are listed have lived very long years. Anyways, the Sibylline oracles say that some years after flood, Sambethe mobed to Greece and began to write oracles.

The Sibyllines Oracles

Prophet Name:The Sibyl sisterhood, the prophetesses

Origin & Message:
The Sibyls were a set of prophetesses who uttered oracles which were recorded, their advice was much sought after (by the Roman Empire and also the early church) and their influence is mentioned in many cultures such as the Greeks and the Anglo-Irish.
It is believed that the very first Sibyl was a daughter of Noah, or it may even have begun with Noah's wife whom is said to have been the grand-daughter of Enoch (Enoch is mentioned further in my analysis of the Book of Giants). Enoch was supposedly a man of great power vision and an apostle, and therefore some of his natural talents may have passed on down through the generations. Noah's daughters name Sambethe is mentioned in the preface of the surviving writings, and it is said that she moved Greece where she started writing oracles.

Supporting documentation:An early Arab document Kitab al-Magall gives the names of Noah and his daughters, and supports the stories told in the surviving 12 books. There are various authors of these oracle books, yet it is known that other book did exist, in particular The Sibylline Books which were owned by the Roman Emperor and mentioned several times in history, however those books are said to have been destroyed in a fire in 83B.C. The documents of the Sibylline oracles were believed to have been put together (as a collection) between 200B.C. and 500 A.D. They are further mentioned in many other documents dating from around the same time.

Content of the Oracle Books:Some of the books just contain the history of mankind, these are not written exclusively from the Christian viewpoint as they often contain Greek history for example and also Asian kings and even Alexander. Other books contain oracles for specific people such as rulers and kings and warriors and kingdoms.
Some of the books also describe prophecies of the events leading up to the last day on Earth. Book Two describes the events leading up to the last day of Earth, the day of destruction where fire from the sky, stars from the sky will fall and destroy life on earth. With the slight reprieve that some get saved from the flames. Book Three says how in the end times there will be a great war, of dust clouds that cover the earth so that the suns light is darkened and the moons light appears as red as drops of blood. Seems to describe nuclear war. Book Eight is much more prophetic about the end times, it is mentioned about the stars in the sky effecting our weather causing a giant hurricane that desolates the earth.

Validity:
I find these books fascinating, most profound is how they nearly always write in future tense which actually makes me quite confused. It is possible that the Oracles written are just fakes, that someone decided to try and replace the original documents which were destroyed in the fire. Another theory is that after the fire had destroyed the original works, that sections of the original documents had been made (in order to pass on to people etc) and that someone gathered all this information back and compiled them into this set of works in the hope to at least keep some of the original information. This would give the impression that these works would have been very highly valued, and the sibylline oracles were famous in their time for their predictions. Lastly a third theory in which these documents are total fakes, designed to fool people, that they only foretell things that had already happened. For me I like the second theory best.

Old Document Review The Book of Giants

From the Dead Sea Scrolls

This scroll is very hard to read as there are words missing and it is broken into many sections with many parts missing. The document is mean as a record to tell the story of where giants came from and also to tell the story of the battle between the angels and demons.

The scroll tells a couple of stories, the first is of how two hundred demons came down to earth and fought battles, taking women as their trophies, enslaving them and subjecting them to torture, then once it was realised, angels came down and done battle with them and destroyed most of them. Part of this story includes one section mentioning how the demons revealed mysteries and arts to men which brought rebellion and ruin. It says that the demons were eventually sealed up on a prison deep in the earth, beneath the mountains.

A strange character mentioned in several parts of the text is someone called Enoch (an apostle) who is compared to Christ and other religious figures. It is clear that wherever this character goes that he is feared and also obeyed. At one point the addresses a gathering of demons and criminals, at another he commands an angel from a distance to change direction and give instruction. Enoch is also mentioned in the story of the demons being imprisoned. Enoch is also mentioned in the bible in the list of descendants of Adam and also in the book of Hebrews where it is said Enoch did not die but was taken up to heaven because he had pleased God.

The giants themselves are said to be the offspring from demons and women, they are said to be war-like, they fight with each other and for other people, but also that the life expectancy of the giants is a long time of around a thousand years, so long that they are considered to be immortal. The giants lived in 36 different towns that were specifically designed to support their needs. It is because of their origin, and their nature that they were damned or cursed and their children.

There are a couple of very strange issues I came across, the first is the mentioning that earth is a sphere (knowledge of the universe), the second ‘three worlds’ are mentioned, possibly meaning heaven hell and the earth but this is perhaps something that fuels belief in aliens! Lastly I came across the mentioning of ‘five elements’. The five elements form the basic understandings behind Buddhism, and Buddha is mentioned elsewhere in the documents, here it is noted that the five elements are being consumed in great quantities by the Giants (earth, water, air, fire, the fifth of things that are beyond the material world).