The Jesus Delusion

The Bible is the most overrated book in the world, and Jesus of Nazareth the most overrated person in world history. These are some of the propositions which the author, who has a doctorate in theology, formulates in his examination of the Christian religion. In a very readable and often humorous style the book asks whether the Bible really is such a good, ethically valuable book, as the Churches always claim, or whether the God of the Old Testament is not rather an irascible war god while the New Testament announces the destruction of all unbelievers at the end times: "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned" (Mark 16: 16). The book also asks whether the Churches are right to invoke that Jesus of Nazareth whom they announce as the Son of God. After all, academic research has long established that the real Jesus was very different and had almost nothing in common with the Jesus of the Churches. Christianity has been driving through history without a driver's licence. This book is addressed both to believers who do not shy away from confronting uncomfortable facts, and to those people who have nothing to do with the Church and who have always suspected that something in Christianity is not quite right.

On July 1, 1959, at Ypsilanti State Hospital in Michigan, the social psychologist Milton Rokeach brought together three paranoid schizophrenics: Clyde Benson, an elderly farmer and alcoholic; Joseph Cassel, a failed writer who was institutionalized after increasingly violent behavior toward his family; and Leon Gabor, a college dropout and veteran of World War II. The men had one thing in common: each believed himself to be Jesus Christ. Their extraordinary meeting and the two years they spent in one another’s company serves as the basis for an investigation into the nature of human identity, belief, and delusion that is poignant, amusing, and at times disturbing. Displaying the sympathy and subtlety of a gifted novelist, Rokeach draws us into the lives of three troubled and profoundly different men who find themselves “confronted with the ultimate contradiction conceivable for human beings: more than one person claiming the same identity.”

The God Delusion caused a sensation when it was published in 2006. Within weeks it became the most hotly debated topic, with Dawkins himself branded as either saint or sinner for presenting his hard-hitting, impassioned rebuttal of religion of all types. His argument could hardly be more topical. While Europe is becoming increasingly secularized, the rise of religious fundamentalism, whether in the Middle East or Middle America, is dramatically and dangerously dividing opinion around the world. In America, and elsewhere, a vigorous dispute between 'intelligent design' and Darwinism is seriously undermining and restricting the teaching of science. In many countries religious dogma from medieval times still serves to abuse basic human rights such as women's and gay rights. And all from a belief in a God whose existence lacks evidence of any kind. Dawkins attacks God in all his forms. He eviscerates the major arguments for religion and demonstrates the supreme improbability of a supreme being. He shows how religion fuels war, foments bigotry and abuses children. The God Delusion is a brilliantly argued, fascinating polemic that will be required reading for anyone interested in this most emotional and important subject.

Alister McGrath and Joanna Collicutt McGrath present a reliable assessment of The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins, famed atheist and scientist, and the many questions this book raises--including, above all, the relevance of faith and the quest for meaning.

Is faith delusion? Is religion bad for your health? How, in a scientifically and technologically advanced age, can people still believe in God/spirit/'other'? Clearly not all believers are primitive and ill-educated; an alternative explanation is that they must be mad, or at least severely neurotic (as suggested by Freud). This book starts by looking at, and giving reasons for, the connection and the division between Christian faith and psychiatry. It asks whether science challenges Christians involved with psychiatry, as patients or professionals, and whether the spiritual needs of patients are recognised. The author examines the scope and use of the neuro-sciences and considers cause and effect, natural selection and determinism. He explores the overlap (and the difference) between psychiatric symptoms and religious belief, the possible association between demon possession and mental illness, and the idea that some people are intrinsically religious and some are not. The variations of personality are examined, with their implications for belief. Posited as a statement, that faith is delusion is always hostile, but outcome studies (reviewed here) show that in general religious belief and practice convey good mental health. Religious faith and mental illness are different, and their concepts come from different world-views. A consideration of them in relation to each other is long overdue. The author is a former Professor of Psychiatry and President of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, and has also been Chairman of their Spirituality and Psychiatry Special Interest Group, so is exceptionally well qualified to address the subject. Although the book is technically proficient, it is aimed at the general reader and is illustrated with stories, brief case histories and anecdotes.

2018 Christy Award winner! By March of Owen Edmonds’s senior year, eleven students at Masonville High School have committed suicide. Amid the media frenzy and chaos, Owen tries to remain levelheaded—until he endures his own near-death experience and wakes to a distressing new reality. The people around him suddenly appear to be shackled and enslaved. Owen frantically seeks a cure for what he thinks are crazed hallucinations, but his delusions become even more sinister. An army of hideous, towering beings, unseen by anyone but Owen, are preying on his girlfriend and classmates, provoking them to self-destruction. Owen eventually arrives at a mind-bending conclusion: he’s not imagining the evil—everyone else is blind to its reality. He must warn and rescue those he loves . . . but this proves to be no simple mission. Will he be able to convince anyone to believe him before it’s too late? Owen’s heart-pounding journey through truth and delusion will force him to reconsider everything he believes. He both longs for and fears the answers to questions that are quickly becoming too dangerous to ignore.

Jesus undoubtedly suffered from paranoid schizophrenia with hallucinations, delusions and paranoia. The purpose of this book is to provide a psychiatric portrait of the historical figure known as Jesus of Nazareth, the founder of Christianity. Such a title is indeed shocking, but after a detailed analysis of the words and actions of Jesus mentioned in the Gospels, it clearly appears that he suffered from a serious mental illness: schizophrenia with hallucinations, delusions and paranoia. Jean-Philippe Cossette is a former Jehovah’s Witness and now a psychiatric nurse.

JUDAS, THE HERO At the heart of Jesus' delusion was his obsessive desire to offer himself as a sacrifice so his 'Father' would bring an end to the world with the Day of Judgement. He could not accomplish this alone. So he chose his favourite, the disciple he had given charge of the groups funds: Judas Iscariot, the man judged by history as the quintessential traitor to assist him. History is wrong. They worked hand in glove. A gnostic fragment discovered in 1972 and publicly revealed in 2005, The Gospel of Judas supports this view. But the real story of the partnership between Jesus and Judas is actually contained in the New Testament itself and is revealed with blinding clarity in historian and biographer, Robert Macklin's pioneering work, THE JESUS DELUSION. 'Robert Macklin digs into the texts to come up with a complex, indignant and physically unattractive human being who will disturb today's Fundamentalists almost as much as Jesus upset his fellow Rabbis.' Phillip Adams

John Milors fascinating work is based on the Bible telling of a powerful deception that will overshadow the Earth, a deception so intense that only those with a genuine love relationship with God will be able to endure it. Events from the authors own life, including a series of supernatural encounters, have revealed some key components of this strong delusion, which he believes will initiate a grand display of open contact with extraterrestrials. It will also involve the global rise of Islam. Its no mistake that the faiths of four billion people (Christians and Muslims) include two versions of prophetic visions that are nearly identical, yet they represent opposite sides of a global conflict that will end in the Battle of Armageddon. This book delves into myriad topics, including: Encounters with angels, otherworldly beings, and Jesus Christ; Encounters with demons, ghosts, nephilim, jinns, and mythical creatures; The Bibles explanation of ET good guys and bad guys; The Quran and Hadiths ET connection: Was Muhammad abducted as a boy, and operated on? Was the angel that abducted Muhammad really Gabriel? Were the mysterious jinns of Islam actually surviving nephilim? Is the Quran and Hadiths ideology specifically tailored for the Antichrist? These and other topics harken to ancient times and peer into a not-too-distant future, when the author believes we will see a return to the days of Noah, as prophesied by Jesus.

I saw Christ during a near death experience (NDE) in January 1969 while buried beneath a pile of biomaterial, outguessing poisonous methane gas. I had multiple compound fractures and no air. To this day, I swear it being as real as you, me or anyone else. Yes, I saw the tunnel of light with Christ at the opposite end. The Christ I saw had long brunet hair—the one I knew from Sunday school and books. Now that I have actually studied the Bible, I know He almost certainty had short hair, like his peers, the other men in his culture. Check it out. First Corinthians 11:14 says, “Does not the very nature of things teach you that if a man has long hair, it is a disgrace to Him?” God Himself thought long hair on a man was an abomination. It's obvious that is a disgrace for a man to have long hair! The most common word to describe long effeminate hair is the very word Paul used in First Corinthians 11:14: “degrading” (atimia), the major reason for objecting to long hair. How do we explain all the pictures of Christ depicted with long hair? Is that delusional thinking at the mass level? Again, did the Holy Word mislead us poor ignorant Christians, or did we fill in the gap for God? I’m laying my money on God – long hair was abhorrent to Him. As such, His son arrived with short hair. Now if Christ was anything like today’s youth, he would have rejected long hair – it simply wasn’t in style. Is humankind’s vision of Jesus just a delusion? Is the phenomenon of UFOs but another case of MASS delusion? It has happened before and within the past one hundred years –“Invasion of Mars”, Orison Well’s Broadcast. Could be, but humankind has been reporting them through word, paintings, or hieroglyphics since 29,000BC. If one buys into that, but not into UFO’s, then one must conclude that the entire world, since the beginning of time, has BEEN A DELUSION.

Hidden in the Hebrew scriptures is evidence that Adam and Eve were immortal and covered in light, just as God uses light as a covering for himself (Psalm 104:2). They were more than two unique individuals, their bodies represented a plane of existence that was an integral part of the fabric of Creation. The sin they committed changed their physiology and they became mortal. Because of their mortality;“God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them.” Gen 3:21When God made these coverings of skin, did He slaughter animals, skin them, tan their hides, make thread, and then sew together some buckskin clothing? Or, does the term coverings of skin refer to the epidermal or outer layers of human skin. Skin that was added because without their covering of light they could not exist as mortals in the natural world. Their offense was not only against God, it was against their own bodies and they altered their DNA. How else can we explain the fact that through heredity, we have shared in the penalty for their sins? The story of creation, the fall, redemption, and the coming anti-Christ; is all linked to the body and specifically - DNA.In 2000, I read an interview Reader's Digest magazine did with Dr. Francis Crick. He and Dr. Watson are credited with discovering the double helix structure of DNA. At the time, the Human Genome project was underway. Dr. Crick was asked about how many genes they had identified so far. He answered, 140,000 and we expect to find 4,000 more. I almost fell out of my chair. How could anyone miss the significance of that number? This immediately changed my perception of certain scripture. In Revelation, 144,000 are sealed with the seal of God (in their foreheads). 144,000 stand on Mount Zion with Christ, having the name of God written in their foreheads. What if this number, instead of referring to a number of individuals, actually refers to the immortal life genome? In other words, to be sealed by God is to have your genetic code supernaturally sequenced back to an immortal state. Since the human body (and its homeostasis) is a closed system, Adam and Eve did not destroy the genes that enable immortal life, they reorganized the sequence. This proprietary information was not annihilated, it was merely suppressed.Life Extension Magazine interviewed Dr. Michael D. West about a breakthrough published in the journal “Regenerative Medicine.” He said (regarding immortality):“The goal of gerontology for many years has been to find the reason that our reproductive lineage continues to make babies generation after generation while the other cells in our body, called somatic cells, have a finite life span and are mortal,... The answer is that we come from a lineage of cells that have been proliferating since the dawn of life on earth. The cells that made us have no dead ancestors.”We come from immortality, and much of the genetic research performed today is focused on immortality.New Scientist Magazine featured an article about Scientists at the University of Cambridge (UK), who have created a new way of using the genetic code: “[that] could eventually lead to the creation of new or improved life forms.”One of these new life forms will be a triple helix structure, as featured in "Scientific American" magazine:Triple Helix: Designing a New Molecule of Life …a synthetic hybrid of protein and DNA,.. unlike anything found in nature. In the original immortal life genome, a double helix structure with144,000 genes; means that both strands of DNA would have 72, 000 (each). In a triple helix structure the number would be 216,000 (3x72,000). The earliest Greek manuscripts describe the number of the beast as 600, and 60, and 6. If we multiply 600 x 60 x 6, we arrive at the number 216,000. This is the number of “the beast,” it is his genetic code. Satan will use this synthetic genome to offer the people of earth, a counterfeit version of immortal life. It will be a Beautiful Delusion.

Dr. Richard Carrier is an expert in the history of the ancient world and a critic of Christian attempts to distort history in defense of their faith. Not the Impossible Faith is a tour de force in that genre, dissecting and refuting the oft-repeated claim that Christianity could not have succeeded in the ancient world unless it was true. Though framed as a detailed rebuttal to Christian apologist J.P. Holding (author of The Impossible Faith), Carrier takes a general approach that educates the reader on the history and sociology of the ancient world, answering many questions like: How did Christians approach evidence? Was there a widespread prejudice against the testimony of women? Was resurrection such a radical idea? Who would worship a crucified criminal? And much more. Written with occasional humor and an easy style, and thoroughly referenced, with many entertaining "gotcha " moments, Not the Impossible Faith is a must-read for anyone interested in the origins of Christianity.

Religious scholar Hart argues that contemporary antireligious polemics are based not only upon conceptual confusions but upon facile simplifications of history and provides a powerful antidote to the New Atheists' misrepresentations of the Christian past.

Many Christians think of end times prophecy as a gigantic, intimidating puzzle -- difficult to piece together and impossible to figure out. But every puzzle can be solved if you approach it the right way. Paul Benware compares prophecy to a picture puzzle. Putting the edge pieces together first builds the 'framework' that makes it easier to fit the other pieces in their place. According to Benware, the framework for eschatology is the biblical covenants. He begins his comprehensive survey by explaining the major covenants. Then he discusses several different interpretations of end times prophecy. Benware digs into the details of the Rapture, the Great Tribulation, the judgements and resurrections, and the millennial kingdom. But he also adds a unique, personal element to the study, answering questions as: -Why study bible prophecy? -What difference does it make if I'm premillenial or amillenial? If what the Bible says about the future puzzles you, Understanding End Times Prophecy will help you put together the pieces and see the big picture.

The author of Prophecy 2000 shares his 39 years of research into the diabolical source of "flying saucers." Today our secularized society is so eager for quick, amazing answers. Will new hope arrive on these "chariots of the gods?" Psychics are channeling such exciting insights from alleged cosmic beings, detailing the "true" nature of God and alternate roads to salvation. Supermarket tabloids proclaim oddball messages from space. New Agers are captivated by the promise of alien cosmic enlightenment and higher intelligence from beyond the stars. So, what is really out there? Why are movies filled with wise aliens, Eastern mysticism, and New Age humanism such hits? Are we being set up for a new , false, extraterrestrial hope? Yet another alternative to the only true way - Jesus Christ?

Portraying themselves as challenging blind religious dogma with evidence-led skepticism, the neo-atheist movement claims that the New Testament contains unreliable tales about a mythical figure who, far from being the resurrected Lord of life, may not even have lived. This comprehensive critique documents the falsehood of these neo-atheist claims, correcting their historical and philosophical mistakes to show how we can get at the truth about the historical Jesus.

The first in a series of books comprising an exposé of the Mormon Church (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints). This volume concentrates on polygamy and little known polyandry which is hidden from rank and file Mormons. Historical evidence proves the Mormon Church has rewritten its own history through lies, suppression, omission and interpolation; such that the truth is so well hidden from members; unless they look outside the Church for information; they will never know of the continued conspiracy to deceive them. Contains over 120 pages of appendices, including complete lists and analysis of all the wives and families of Joseph Smith, Brigham Young and Heber C. Kimball, highlighting polyandrous relationships and children born into those unions; plus details of over a hundred children born post 1890 to polygamous wives of General Authorities who violated their own canonised Manifesto after they had covenanted to stop the practice. Visit www.themormondelusion.com for further information.