Category: religion

When Jesus Returns

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High expectations

Will Jesus return? What will he do if he does? Will Jesus make things right? Will there be a showdown between the forces of good and evil? Will evil people burn in hell forever? And what about Buddhists and atheists? They don’t believe in God. And Hindus? They have many gods. Or Jews, Christians and Muslims? Who are the good people, and who are the wicked? The Italian mafia bosses were devout Catholics. The usurers of Goldman Sachs claimed they were doing God’s work. US President George Bush was talking to Jesus when he ordered the invasion of Iraq. Religious crazies murder people for mocking their imaginations. So, what might happen if the Messiah were to come? We already have some evidence. A Messiah already came, sort of, at least. His name was Adolf Hitler.

Perhaps you disagree, but read on. So, was Hitler the opposite of Christ, the anti-Christ, or was he like Christ, as many of his followers expect him to be? Will there be a final reckoning in which billions of people die or face eternal torture in hell? The latter is worse than being gassed in a concentration camp, as there is no end to the suffering. For those who think it is an inappropriate remark, life in Gaza in 2025 was as horrible as in a concentration camp. People within the Israeli government made plans to cleanse the area ethnically, like the Jewish settlers have already been doing on the West Bank for decades. So, have we learned our lesson? And what is that lesson in the first place?

Europeans have learned the hard way, in two devastating world wars, that nationalism and tribalism are the paths to destruction. It is still in their collective memory. It is the reason why the European Union exists. Other continents don’t share the same experience, and memories don’t last forever. Nationalists aren’t wrong about the troubles mass migration and mixing people from different cultures cause, but nationalism has more serious flaws that will prove to be fatal in today’s world. European history has demonstrated that beyond doubt. And why should we doubt what is certain? Humans are a failed and destructive species. We cooperate through the myths we share. Without an inspiring fairy tale and a leader who unites us, we are doomed. And that is why we need a messiah.

Adolf the Messiah or the Anti-Christ

At first glance, Jesus Christ and Adolf Hitler are opposites. Jesus personifies goodness, while Hitler is the epitome of evil. Christ stood at the cradle of Christianity, the Religion of Love. Jesus taught that love would overcome hatred. He said, ‘If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also.’ And, ‘Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.’ Hitler represents Nazism, the ideology of hatred that brought us unprecedented cruelty and revealed the depth of human depravity. As the world is barrelling towards an apocalypse, it is the right time to take a distance and be honest. Only by following a strong leader with the right vision can we save ourselves now. In that sense, the Third Reich looks like a dress rehearsal.

Closer inspection reveals a few intriguing parallels between Hitler and Christ. Adolf Hitler’s followers considered him their saviour, and they worshipped him like one. Christians believe that Jesus will descend from heaven and that there will be a rapture when he returns (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17). Hitler was the first leader to fly around in an aeroplane. He came down from the sky to meet the cheering crowds. Rapture means ecstasy, enthusiasm and admiration. Few people in history caused as much rapture as Hitler. A Nazi slogan was, ‘One people, one empire, one leader.’ Christians and Muslims expect that to happen when Jesus returns. In that sense, Hitler foreshadows the Second Coming.

In many ways, Hitler was a messiah. He told the Germans they were the chosen people for their superior race. Jews believe they are the chosen people because of a supposed special relationship between God and the Jewish people. Like Moses, Hitler promised to end the unjust oppression, in this case, caused by the Treaty of Versailles. He claimed that his Third Reich would last a thousand years, whereas the Bible tells that the reign of Christ would last a thousand years (Revelation 20:1-6). And Hitler inspired the same blind following and loyalty to the death that many Christians expect the Second Coming of Christ would do. Somewhat unsurprisingly, a British intelligence report concluded that Hitler had a messiah complex.1

In traditional agricultural societies, land remained within the family. The Jews were no exception. The Bible says the bond between people and land is not to be broken, and land is not to be sold (Leviticus 25:23). The Nazi ideology of Blood and Soil focuses on ethnicity and homeland and stresses the importance of the land people live on and celebrates rural living. The Nazis made the ownership of selected lands hereditary. Those lands could not be mortgaged or sold. The Nazis sought to return to their Eden, without Jews and other undesirables. The Holocaust became the culmination of centuries of anti-Semitism fed by the belief that Jews are inferior people because they rejected the message of Christ.

The Nazis objected to degenerate art, which supposedly was perverse, thus, Communist or Jewish. Ironically, a Jew, Max Nordau, was the one who coined the term degenerate art for modern art, which he believed was the work of feeble minds corrupted by modern life who had lost their self-control. That was by far not the only thing that the Nazis borrowed from the Jews. It is the irony of history, or perhaps God’s sense of humour, that Nazism has much in common with Judaism. That kind of humour is godlike and inappropriate for us mortals. The implied message is that God can do as She pleases, that we are nothing, and no one should claim special privileges because of being chosen.

Nazism and Judaism both have fairy tales about superior people, the nation’s greatness, messianic leadership, and a promised land. Like the Nazis, the Jews have been keen on not allowing mixed marriages, not to keep their tribe racially pure, but to keep it free from foreign influences. In the past, Jews saw non-Jews as inferior, and many still do. Whether Jesus compared Gentiles to dogs, we can’t be sure of, but there is little doubt that these words reflected a widespread sentiment among the Jews. It is a natural human inclination to perceive our own group as superior and other groups as inferior, and Jews are as human as the rest of us. They have only been the best at cultivating their superiority complex by producing an elaborate collection of fairy tales about their supposed special relationship with the owner of the universe. Nazism is the Frankenstein’s monster that Judaism has spawned.

View on Auschwitz concentration camp
View of the Auschwitz concentration camp

Political views

Hitler could have been a painter had the Vienna Art School not declined his application, and we would have had a few additional acceptable wall decorations instead of World War II and the Holocaust. Hitler wouldn’t have sought revenge if Germany had not lost World War I. Had he not lived in an impoverished multicultural neighbourhood in Vienna, he might not have thought that mixing ethnic groups was a bad idea. And had there been no widespread anti-Semitism already, he wouldn’t have hated the Jews that much.

Adolf Hitler was skilled at delivering speeches, which were often angry rants that energised his followers. During the Great Depression, Hitler gained popularity and grabbed power in Germany. He started a war that killed fifty million people. Ten million people died in the Holocaust, including six million Jews. When American troops entered Germany in 1945, they were horrified by what they found in the concentration camps. Few people had imagined the Nazi regime could be that depraved.

Like many Germans, Hitler considered the Peace Treaty of Versailles unjust. The treaty stipulated that Germany accepted responsibility for causing World War I and had to pay massive reparations. The economist Keynes warned in 1919 about the harsh peace terms imposed upon Germany. They were the product of vindictive sentiments among the allies. It could lead to another major war, Keynes warned. His words proved prophetic. Hitler also proved himself to be a man of foresight in his views on usury.

Hitler’s enlightenment on that particular issue came after attending a lecture by Gottfried Feder, titled ‘The Abolition of Interest Servitude.’ It was the reason Hitler joined the National Socialist Party. It could also be that Feder’s moustache has impressed Hitler. Hitler’s views were similar to those expressed in the Bible and the Quran. Feder’s ideas became central to Hitler’s ideas on international finance. Today, unchecked trade and finance are about to end human civilisation as we know it.

Hitler feared that the Jews would take over Germany. Hitler’s fears have become a reality in the United States. About half the wealthy US elites are Jewish, while Jews are only 2% of the population. To get elected, American politicians must unconditionally support Israel. If not, they face the wrath of the Israel Lobby, which will terminate their career. Today, many Americans are impoverished while the wealthy, often Jewish elites, party. The elites bribe US politicians to do their bidding, which is a crime in Europe.

Inspired by scientific discoveries about natural selection, the Nazis became preoccupied with the fitness of the race. They euthanised those whom they believed were unfit, such as the mentally disabled. Had we still lived in nature, many of them wouldn’t have survived, because the communities they lived in would have abandoned them. Civilisation allows the inept to survive. If you can do a trick, you can get a paycheck. The Nazis believed that if the feeble survived and procreated, it would weaken the human race.

The Nazis believed that other races were inferior. Most were good enough as slaves, while others had to disappear. Apart from the Jews, the Nazis also exterminated the Roma. Today, 70% have criminal records, and the majority of them rely on welfare. They still suffer from mob violence and exclusion.2 But if 70% have criminal records, you can imagine why. Like the Roma, the Jews didn’t change their ways, so anti-Semitism is once again rearing its ugly head. Cultures, so norms, values and myths, hold groups together, so you can’t reason with groups as you can with individuals. And it is not only the Roma or the Jews. We all suffer from that same ailment.

‘Why do they hate us?’ It was a question few Americans dared to ask after 9/11. And then the Americans did precisely what many Muslims hated them for: bombing, occupying and looting Muslim countries. And the Muslims never ask themselves why so many people hate them. It is the question every cultural group should ask. And the prejudices others hold about your group are often telling. So, why do people hate Christians, Muslims, Jews, whites, blacks, liberals, and conservatives? How others view you often tells you more about yourself than how you see yourself.

The Nazi racial superiority ideology was a guise to address cultural issues plaguing German society. Mixing people from different cultures causes trouble, as we have seen in multicultural societies. None of the cultures existing today is suitable for the future, so we all have to change. Xenophobia and racism are only a part of the problem. Because the previous generation identified the problem as racism, we didn’t learn all the lessons from history, so we are bound to repeat the same mistakes. Fascism is once again on the rise. Many of the problems we face today relate to cultural values we mistakenly take pride in and sometimes falsely attribute to genetics.

Harsh questions

The most pressing cultural problem today is our diligence in transforming energy and resources into waste and pollution in a competition that will make us redundant. That has to end, and the solution can only be radical. Attributing the problem to genes leaves us with no choice but to definitely solve the problem by exterminating those so-called ‘hard-working’ people who turn our planet into a wasteland with their work and consumption. By taking more than is sustainable, they condemn other people to death.

The Nazis didn’t shy away from harsh questions. The world is finite. Another issue that they obsessed over was limited resources or living space. They thought that the German people needed more of it, so Germany should start wars to conquer territory. The issue of limited resources is even more pressing today, and the alternative to warfare is sharing. And the proponents of the suicidal ideology aren’t willing to do so. Those who take more than is sustainable or have many children condemn others to death.

There is overpopulation. You may want children, but the world doesn’t need them. On the contrary, the fewer humans, the better. And that brings us to the question of eugenetics. If you have a severe hereditary disease, should you have children? And if you are mentally incapable of raising children because you are a retard, a criminal, an alcoholic or a drug addict, should you be allowed to have children? To own a gun or to drive a car, you need a license and prove you are sane. So, why don’t we have to qualify to have children?

Drug abuse

Adolf Hitler was a hypochondriac suffering from mood swings, Parkinson’s disease, flatulence, skin problems and a gradual decline. His physician, a quack named Dr Theodor Morell, gave him unorthodox medications, such as cocaine, speed, glucose, testosterone, estradiol, and corticosteroids. In addition, Hitler received a preparation made from a gun cleaner, rat poison and atropine to treat his farting.

Hitler survived these treatments, but they contributed to his erratic conduct and illnesses. Hitler also ingested an extract of bulls’ semen and numerous vitamins and tonics. He took potions, pills and injections to improve his sexual performance to deal with the sexual appetite of his demanding mistress, Eva Braun. As they say, behind every strong man is a strong woman. And in the case of Hitler, that is correct.

Eva Braun

Eva Braun was the mistress and later wife of Adolf Hitler. Most historians consider Her an insignificant figure who didn’t participate in political decisions. But opinions differ, and the truth is more bizarre than the wildest imaginations. A letter demonstrates that Braun knew of the concentration camps and the gas chambers. Some Nazi officials close to Hitler have said that Braun was at the centre of Hitler’s life for most of his twelve years in power. She was committed to Hitler, won his affection, gave him moral support, and enjoyed a healthy sex life with him. Braun’s friends have said that She giggled over a photograph of Neville Chamberlain sitting on a sofa in Hitler’s Munich apartment and said, ‘If only he knew what goings-on that sofa has seen.’

Hitler’s letters indicate that he was fond of Her, and worried when She participated in sports or was late returning for tea. Hitler’s secretary, Traudl Junge, stated that during the war, Hitler telephoned Braun every day. After learning about a failed plot to kill Hitler in 1944, Braun wrote to him, ‘From our first meeting, I swore to follow you anywhere even unto death. I live only for your love.’ And that was how it ended. Over twenty plots to kill Hitler failed, making Hitler believe a supernatural force protected him. When the end of the Third Empire neared, Braun became merrier. In the end, She married Hitler and committed suicide together with him. It was the romantic ending She desired.

Eva Braun was God and the mastermind behind Hitler’s rise and demise. Coincidences could serve as a clue. Braun was Eva’s last name, and it is the German word for brown. Adolf Hitler was born in Braunau am Inn, and brown is the colour associated with the Nazi ideology. Nazis were nicknamed brown shirts. And Eva is German for Eve. Eva had a passion for nude sunbathing to brown Her skin. She loved being photographed naked. She had no shame like Eve in the Garden of Eden. The current Hitler wannabees of the far-right may lack the backing of this woman, which seems crucial for success.

For Braun, the story didn’t end with the Third Reich’s demise. She turned into Marilyn Monroe by taking over Norma Jeane Mortenson’s body. I contemplated that possibility when watching a Netflix documentary about Monroe’s life. Immediately after my thought, the word goddess appeared on the screen in massive lettering. That hint was as plain as it could get. Monroe had an affair with US President John F. Kennedy. He later dumped Monroe. Soon afterwards, Kennedy met the Grim Reaper in an epic scene dubbed the Kennedy assassination. People still speculate about who assassinated Kennedy and why.

The Kennedy assassination has kept conspiracy theorists busy, but who fired the bullet is of secondary importance concerning the question of who killed Kennedy. Messing with Monroe proved to be a fatal mistake. A set of coincidences surrounds the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy and his brother Robert. They are part of an intricate scheme involving the premature deaths of Presidents, including James A. Garfield. Furthermore, the Kennedy family suffered a series of accidents and early deaths called the Kennedy Curse. The book ‘The Virtual Universe’ goes into more detail.

The prophecy of the Holocaust

Rumour has it that Nostradamus predicted the coming of Adolf Hitler, but the argument is not particularly convincing. The word Hister in Nostradamus’ ravings refers to the Danube. These names are alike, and Hitler’s birthplace was on a tributary of the Danube, a peculiar coincidence. More ominous are the prophetic references to six million Jews in danger of being exterminated or a coming Holocaust of Jews appearing in Jewish magazines before World War II. That is not as remarkable as it might seem. The figure emerged because six million Jews lived in the Russian Empire before World War I. Jews in Russia suffered from a hostile government and pogroms. Pogroms are riots incited to expel or kill Jews.

The Russian Empire collapsed, and the Soviet Union came in its place. Still, the six million figure continued to circulate in Jewish publications, which is odd. It subsequently became the number of Jews murdered in the Holocaust.5 These prophetic statements are eerie, like the reference to the end date of World War I on the licence plate of Franz Ferdinand’s car. The most notable ones are listed below:

  • In 1911, at the tenth Zionist Congress in Basel, Switzerland, Max Nordau, co-founder of the World Zionist Organisation, together with Theodore Herzl, prophesied the annihilation of six million Jews.
  • Shortly after World War I in 1919, Zionists feared that a Holocaust of six million Jews was imminent in Europe.
  • According to the New York Times, in 1936, Zionists were lobbying for a Jewish state in Palestine to save the Jews from a European Holocaust. It was three years before World War II and five years before the extermination camps came into existence.
  • In 1939, The Jewish Criterion predicted the coming world war would annihilate six million Jews in East and Central Europe.
  • In 1940, the Jewish leader Nahum Goldmann predicted that if the Nazis achieved victory, six million Jews would be doomed to destruction.

That ugly face in the mirror

The 1981 film ‘The Wave’ was about a schoolteacher, Ben Ross, who showed his class a film about the Holocaust. One of his pupils asked him how the Germans could have rallied behind Adolf Hitler and committed these atrocities. Ross couldn’t answer the question and decided to start an experiment. He began by offering advice on proper posture and a few classroom rules to improve efficiency. The pupils took it up with enthusiasm. The next day, he introduced The Wave, a youth movement with a secret salute and membership card.

Robert, an unpopular student, received the task of monitoring the other students, a position that filled him with pride. Robert began reporting unorthodox behaviour to Ross and the other Wave members. Two hundred more students joined. Wave members bullied other students. The school newspaper published a negative review about The Wave, prompting Wave members to plan an attack on the editor.

The following day, Ross told the Wave was a nationwide youth movement in schools, and its leader would give a televised speech. The eager Wave students assembled in the auditorium with television monitors. To their horror, the monitors displayed a film of Adolf Hitler at a Nazi rally. Ross told them that this was their leader. The experiment showed that most of us are fit to become Nazis or would not resist a fascist takeover. In other words, similar atrocities can occur again, and they did. That is because strong leaders and fairy tales appeal to our deep desire for belonging and order.

We remember the Nazis for their cruelty, but they were also corrupt. Hermann Göring looted art and other precious items, a recurring pattern in authoritarian regimes. Far-right leaders are often gangsters who lie more than democratic politicians, engage in bribery, embezzlement and coups to overthrow the government. Democratic countries are turning into gangster kingdoms where criminal leaders and their cronies enrich themselves, exceeding the corruption of the previous liberal establishment. If you have studied human politics, the return of gangster governments should be unsurprising. When order collapses, gangsterism will take its place. And order in the West is collapsing.

Whatever it takes

If it is about survival, you do whatever it takes. To Hitler, the war was about the survival of the German people. He took a rather particular view on the matter and started World War II, and the irony of history is that no one ever destroyed Germany more than Hitler. The Jews posed no immediate threat to Germany. Still, Hitler was not wrong in fearing that the Jews might take over Germany. In the United States, where the Jews had the opportunity to do so, something of that kind has occurred. Usury and political corruption are the main pillars of Jewish power in the US. To the Jews, it is about the survival of their nation, so they see US foreign policy as a crucial national interest. And the Palestinians may not be an immediate threat to Israel, but that may change.

The Holocaust may have been exceptional in its scale and cruelty, but it fits in a long list of atrocities humans have committed. Human civilisation as we know it is about to end. We do good things, but the overall outcome of all that we do is a complete disaster. Had Adam and Eve listened to God and not sought knowledge of the gods, we would still have run around naked and would have done alright, killing each other with sticks and stones, not knowing the difference between good and evil. Humans are a failed species. We need a saviour who gives us an inspiring myth so that we can unite as one humanity and prevent the impending apocalypse. We can only hope that God wants the best for us. No matter how many weapons you have, nothing can protect you against God. Today, it is about the survival of humankind. We must do whatever it takes and hope that God is willing.

Latest revision: 12 December 2025

Featured image: Eva Braun and Adolf Hitler

1. WWII Adolf Hitler’s profile suggests a messiah complex. BBC (2012). [link]
2. Harvard International Review. Minority Report: Roma and Eastern Europe (2019).
4. Nazi loyalist and Adolf Hitler’s devoted aide: the true story of Eva Braun. The Guardian (2010). [link]
5. The Six Million Jews. [link]

Roman sculpture of Cleopatra wearing a royal diadem

History Is Her Story, Part 1

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Introducing Chief Inspector Jacques Clouseau

In the autumn of 1989, I was a student and forced to leave a dormitory because I was immature and didn’t fit in. Most notably, I couldn’t get along with a particular Lady. I returned to my parental home to gather courage before trying out another dormitory. There was not much to laugh about in those days, except for a few episodes of Chief Inspector Jacques Clouseau on German television. My parents lived near the German border, so I could watch them. The German dubbing was as funny as the original.

Clouseau was inept, but he always managed to solve the mystery. Guided by a few hunches and vague clues that only made sense to him, he ignored the obvious explanations of the facts and uncovered the truth by accident. So, how could a bumbling clown like Clouseau be correct while the competent fail? The answer is that he is a fictional character in a story. The plot is that Clouseau is right in the end.

History is Her story, and the pun may be intentional. Apart from women in the Bible, God played other roles. How can we know who they were? That is where Clouseau comes in. We live in virtual reality, so this can be a story with a plot. I could be right if that is the plot of the story. My investigation produced a list of possible avatars of God. It has gaps and overlaps. God may have skipped the childhood years of the avatars She chose. The Lady at the dormitory is one of them. That, I found out nineteen years later.

Bust of Nefertiti
Bust of Nefertiti from the Egyptian Museum in Berlin.

Akhenaten and Nefertiti

As far as we know, the Egyptian Pharaoh Akhenaten and his wife, Nefertiti (1370-1330 BC), were the first monotheists. They promoted the worship of a single deity, a sun disk named Aten, and ordered the end of worship to other gods. In doing so, they broke with the Egyptian religious tradition. Nefertiti may have been an avatar of God. Worshipping the Sun makes sense. Just imagine the Sun doesn’t come back in the morning. You can better ensure he does and sacrifice a bull every evening before sunset. Their new religion didn’t last. After their reign, traditional beliefs returned. They were too far ahead of their time.

Cassandane

Cyrus the Great was a Persian Emperor and one of the first multicultural rulers. He respected the customs and religions of the lands he conquered. That made it easier for him to rule such a large empire. Otherwise, he had to assimilate all the people in his realm into Persian culture, which would have distracted him from making more conquests. And by the way, people didn’t mingle as much as they do today, so cultural differences didn’t cause that much trouble. Cyrus the Great was a prominent figure in history. Iranians still call him The Father. Most Iranians aren’t Christians, so that doesn’t confuse them.

Cyrus also conquered Babylon. The Jews in exile caused trouble with their Zionism there, so Cyrus sent them back to Israel and gave them money to rebuild their temple. The Jews were grateful and considered him a Messiah. The fate of a Messiah is to be married to God, so his wife, Cassandane (567-537 BC), could have been God in disguise. Cyrus and Cassandane loved each other deeply, according to the historical records. Cyrus would not have been a proper Messiah in the biblical sense if a woman had not sealed his fate. Accounts of Cyrus’ demise and death diverge, but that fact is beyond dispute.

The Greek historian Herodotus noted that he died in a battle with the Massagetae, a fearsome steppe people who lived in what is now Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. To acquire the territory, Cyrus first sent an offer to marry their ruler, Queen Tomyris, a proposal she rejected. He then tried to take the Massagetae territory by military means. Tomyris challenged him to meet her forces in honourable warfare. Learning that the Massagetae were unfamiliar with wine and its intoxicating effects, Cyrus set up a poorly defended camp with plenty of it and left with his best soldiers.

The general of Tomyris’s army, her son Spargapises, overran the camp with his troops. They got drunk, and Cyrus defeated them in a surprise attack and captured Spargapises, who then committed suicide. Tomyris then vowed revenge, leading a second wave of troops herself. Cyrus’ forces suffered massive casualties, and he also died. Tomyris ordered the body of Cyrus brought to her, then decapitated him and dipped his head in a vessel of blood. Accounts on the matter differ, and Herodotus offers us the most colourful account, but others confirm the death of Cyrus at the hands of Tomyris.

Roman medallion with Olympias
Roman medallion with Olympias, Museum of Thessaloniki.

Olympias, mother of Alexander the Great

Olympias (376-316 BC) was the mother of Alexander the Great. Alexander’s lasting legacy is the spread of Greek culture in the Mediterranean. Greek thought and culture later influenced Judaism and Christianity. The Word would never have become flesh without Platonic philosophy. And Christians could never be born of God, the Father, without the influence of Greek mythology. You can see how God works in ways we can’t anticipate. Olympias, who was married to King Philip II of Macedonia, claimed that Alexander was the son of Zeus, the supreme god of the Greeks.

According to the Greek historian Plutarch, Olympias had a dream in which a thunderbolt struck her womb on the eve of her marriage to Philip. Philip was said to have seen himself in a dream sealing up his wife’s womb with a seal. A virgin birth it was, or it could have been. Plutarch offered several interpretations of these dreams, for example, that Alexander’s father was Zeus, the supreme deity of the Greeks. That would have made Alexander the Son of God. And so, Olympias might have been an avatar of God.

Philip chose Aristotle as Alexander’s tutor. Alexander and Philip fought battles together and defeated Thebes and Athens, making Macedonia the dominant power in Greece. They then began to plan an invasion of Persia. Philip remarried, which threatened Alexander’s position as heir to the throne. A brawl at the wedding led to Olympias and Alexander going into exile. While attending the wedding of his daughter to Olympias’ brother, a captain of Philip’s bodyguards assassinated Philip. A possible conspirator was Olympias. The nobles and army immediately proclaimed Alexander King. In the subsequent years, Alexander conquered the Persian Empire and ventured into India. Alexander died young, at the age of thirty-two, possibly from poisoning.

Alexander the Great was one of the most successful conquerors in history. He became popular in the Mediterranean and the Middle East. Legends sprang up about his exploits and life, which had a profound impact on the Abrahamic religions. He is a significant figure in Judaism. The Christians in the Near East turned him into a saint. The Quran mentions him and recites scraps of the legends about him. Alexander supposedly travelled to the ends of the world to build a wall to keep Gog and Magog out of civilised lands. Alexander de Grote (Alexander the Great) was my classmate at primary school for several years, a remarkable coincidence. Perhaps his parents had a humorous fit when naming him.

Queen Dowager Zhao

Chinese emperors held the Mandate of Heaven. The Emperor was the Son of Heaven. The title legitimised the rule of the Emperor. In Chinese thinking, the gods didn’t play a central role. Thus, being the Son of Heaven was the closest to being divine. If insurgents overthrew an Emperor and installed a new one, the old emperor had lost the mandate, and the new Emperor had it instead. That is very pragmatic indeed. This arrangement also provided stability as it deterred potential contenders to the throne.

China’s first emperor was Qin Shi Huang. He unified China for the first time around 220 BC. He was a particularly ruthless person. He had to be because he came out on top after five centuries of relentless warfare that had no equal in history. His reign didn’t last. Qin Shi Huang died in 210 BC while on a trip to procure an elixir of immortality from Taoist magicians, who claimed the potion was stuck on an island guarded by a sea monster. Widespread revolts ended his son’s government shortly afterwards.

A new imperial dynasty soon established itself. Qin Shi Huang’s lasting legacy is not only the unification of China. He also standardised writing throughout the empire and introduced a pictural rather than a phonetic script so people could read the same documents everywhere in China, even when they spoke different languages. As a result, China could build its national identity around a set of writings. China’s identity never perished, even when the country fragmented and warlords temporarily took over.

Qin Shi Huang’s mother was Queen Dowager Zhao (280-228 BC), the wife of King Zhuangxiang of Qin. Queen Dowager Zhao was the daughter of a prominent family. She was a concubine of a merchant named Lü Buwei, who gave her to his protegé, Prince Yiren of Qin. Thanks to Lü’s intervention, Prince Yiren became the ruler of the Kingdom of Qin and King Zhuangxiang. His son Qin Shi Huang succeeded him. It may well be that Queen Dowager Zhao was God in disguise, adding some justification to the title of Her son, Son of Heaven.

When my son was nine, he jokingly referred to himself as the Emperor of China. He often ordered my wife and me. We were making a joke out of it and called him the king. Still, my son insisted he was the Emperor of China. ‘The Emperor of China demands cheese,’ he then added. An article about the first emperor of China appeared in a television magazine shortly after I found out we live in a virtual reality.

Roman sculpture of Cleopatra wearing a royal diadem
Roman sculpture of Cleopatra wearing a royal diadem

Cleopatra

Cleopatra (69-30 BC) was the last Pharaoh of Ancient Egypt. Few women have proved to be as strong a ruler as Cleopatra, even though She ultimately failed, causing Egypt to lose independence and become a Roman province. She presented Herself as a reincarnation of the Egyptian goddess Isis, who later, with her son Horus, became the template for the images of the Madonna with the child Jesus. Egyptian Pharaohs were deputies of the gods, but Cleopatra went further by claiming to be a goddess Herself.

Even Julius Caesar was impressed by Her personality. He abandoned his plans to conquer Egypt and backed Her claim to the throne. It is not a mere coincidence that Julius Caesar had the same initials as Jesus Christ, and that both died because of betrayal. After Caesar died, She supported her next lover, Mark Antony, in a power struggle with the future Emperor Augustus. That led to Cleopatra’s downfall and suicide. She was already looking forward to Her next role, Mary Magdalene, the wife of an obscure Jewish prophet who was to change world history.

Empress Theodora

Empress Theodora (490-548) was one of the most influential women in Roman history. An official of Her time noted that She was more intelligent than any man. Her husband, Emperor Justinian, realised this as well. He allowed Her to share his throne and take part in decision-making. She was a controversial figure. As a young woman, Theodora earned Her living as an actress, which meant entertaining men with indecent dances in establishments of dubious reputation, and possibly it included prostitution. Procopius’ Secret History, an ancient version of a gossip channel with a preference for slander, is the foremost source of information about Her early life, so we can’t be sure.

Later, Theodora travelled to North Africa as the concubine of Hecebolus, a Roman governor in Libya. Procopius alleged that Hecebolus mistreated Theodora, and their relationship ended in a quarrel. The then-destitute Theodora went to Egypt and converted to Miaphysite Christianity. Theodora later returned to Constantinople, where She met the future Emperor Justinian. Justinian was impressed by Her. He wed Theodora even though She already had an illegitimate daughter, which caused a scandal. And Justinian had to change the law to marry Her.

Theodora assisted Her husband in making decisions, plans, and political strategies, participated in state councils, and had a significant influence on him. She was an intimidating person who instilled fear, yet She feared no one. There was an uprising during their reign, and rioters set public buildings on fire and proclaimed a new emperor. Justinian and his officials discussed the situation and planned to flee, but Theodora spoke out against this plan. According to Procopius, Theodora interrupted the Emperor and his counsellors, saying,

My lords, the present occasion is too serious to allow me to follow the convention that a woman should not speak in a man’s council. Those whose interests are threatened by extreme danger should think only of the wisest course of action, not of conventions. In my opinion, flight is not the right course, even if it should bring us to safety. It is impossible for a person, having been born into this world, not to die; but for one who has reigned, it is intolerable to be a fugitive. May I never be deprived of this purple robe, and may I never see the day when those who meet me do not call me Empress. If you wish to save yourself, my lord, there is no difficulty. We are rich; over there is the sea, and yonder are the ships. Yet reflect for a moment whether, when you have once escaped to a place of security, you would not gladly exchange such safety for death. As for me, I agree with the adage, that ‘royal purple’ is the noblest shroud.1

Her powerful and inspiring speech convinced them to stay. Justinian then ordered his loyal troops to attack the demonstrators, resulting in the deaths of over 30,000 civilians. Some estimates put the death toll as high as 80,000. The corpses must have piled up on the streets of Constantinople. The reason was Her desire to wear a purple robe. After the revolt, Theodora and Justinian ordered the rebuilding of Constantinople. The works included aqueducts, bridges and churches, including the Hagia Sophia, which became one of the world’s architectural wonders.

Theodora participated in Justinian’s legal and spiritual reforms, was involved in women’s rights, and helped underprivileged women. She bought girls who had been sold into prostitution and freed them. She created a convent where former prostitutes could support themselves. Theodora even tried to eradicate prostitution. Theodora and Justinian expanded the rights of women in divorce and property ownership and instituted the death penalty for rape.

Procopius claimed these reforms made women morally depraved, as men could no longer beat and abuse them at will, which might be the reason why Procopius disliked Theodora. He had some other details about Her to share. According to him, the senators had to prostrate themselves whenever entering the Imperial couple’s presence,

Not even government officials could approach the Empress without expending much time and effort. They were treated like servants and kept waiting in a small, stuffy room for an endless time. After many days, some of them might at last be summoned, but going into her presence in great fear, they very quickly departed. They simply showed their respect by lying face down and touching the instep of each of her feet with their lips; there was no opportunity to speak or to make any request unless she told them to do so. The government officials had sunk into a slavish condition, and she was their slave-instructor.

That could be sixth-century gossip, but perhaps the almighty Owner of the magnificent city of Constantinople and the rest of the universe desired to be reminded of Her greatness before She went into the desolate Arab desert as Khadijah to go after Muhammad.

Empress Wu Zetian

Empress Wu Zetian


After Khadijah had departed, another remarkable woman arrived on the scene. Empress Wu Zetian (624-705) was the only female ruler in China’s history and one of its most gifted Emperors. She ruled from 665 to 705, first as the consort of the incompetent Emperor Gaozong, then as the power behind the throne held by Her youngest son and from 690 as the sole Empress. Under Her reign, China’s power increased, the economy improved, and corruption in the imperial court declined. Notwithstanding those impressive feats, the traditionalist Confucianists called Her the Evil Empress. ‘She killed her sister, butchered her elder brothers, murdered the ruler, poisoned her mother,’ their chronicles say.2

It is doubtful that it is all true. A woman on the throne was against widely held misogynistic, traditional Chinese beliefs. Add to that that Wu’s reforms helped the peasants, so the elites weren’t all too pleased with them. There was no glass ceiling in those times preventing women from rising to the top. At the time, that ceiling was made of reinforced concrete. She must have been cunning and ruthless. Her rise to power is a story of intrigue the likes of which the world has not seen before, or afterwards.

Wu came from a wealthy family, and Her father encouraged Wu to read books and pursue an education that included politics, governmental affairs, writing, literature, and music. After being summoned to the palace to become a low-ranking concubine, Wu reportedly revealed ambitions to ‘meet the Emperor’ to Her mother. According to Her account, She once impressed Emperor Taizong with some tough talk,

Emperor Taizong had a horse named Lion Stallion, and it was so large and strong that no one could get on its back. I was a lady in waiting attending Emperor Taizong, and I suggested to him, ‘I only need three things to subordinate it: an iron whip, an iron hammer, and a sharp dagger. I will whip it with the iron whip. If it does not submit, I will hammer its head with the iron hammer. If it still does not submit, I will cut its throat with the dagger.’ Emperor Taizong praised my bravery.

After Emperor Taizong died, Gaozong became emperor at the age of twenty-one. He was inexperienced and frequently incapacitated by a sickness, causing spells of dizziness. His wife, Empress Wang, introduced Wu because Emperor Gaozong didn’t favour her but his concubine, Xiao. Wang was childless, while Xiao had borne him a son. Wang hoped Wu’s beauty would distract the emperor from Xiao. Wu soon overtook Xiao as Gaozong’s favourite. In 652, Wu gave birth to her first child, a son named Li Hong. In 653, She gave birth to another son.


Wu is infamous for the way She supposedly eliminated Wang and Xiao. As the story goes, Wu smothered Her week-old daughter, a child She had with Gaozong, and blamed the baby’s death on Wang, who was the last person to have held her. The emperor believed the story and imprisoned Wang. Xiao soon followed suit. Once She was empress, Wu ordered both women’s hands and feet lopped off and had their mutilated bodies tossed into a vat of wine, leaving them to drown.2 At least that is what the chronicles authored by Her political enemies tell us. It might be true, but it might not be.

In 655, at the age of 31, Wu became Gaozong’s empress consort and a powerful political force. She had considerable sway over the Emperor. From then on, Wu began to intimidate and eliminate Her opponents. One of the first things Wu did was to submit a petition. It praised the faithfulness of Han and Lai, who had opposed Her unprecedented rise to power. Her purpose was to inform them they had offended Her and that She was aware of their opposition. She knew the psychological tricks. Han offered to resign soon afterwards. After removing those who opposed Her rise, She had even more power, and Emperor Gaozong asked Her advice on petitions made by officials and state affairs.

Wu was more decisive and proactive than Her husband, who was often unwell and left decision-making to Her. Historians believe that Wu was the actual ruler for over 20 years during Gaozong’s reign. Her strong leadership and effective governance made China one of the world’s most powerful nations. Empress Wu had a network of spies in the royal court and throughout the empire. There were countless plots against Her.

She reformed the imperial examination system to encourage capable officials to work in the government. Wu eliminated real or perceived rivals to power through death, demotion, and exile. Her secret police took care of that. Wu’s measures were popular. She ensured that free, self-sufficient farmers could work their land, boosting the nation’s economy. She also helped the lower classes through relief.

Upon the death of her husband, Emperor Gaozong, Wu became Empress Dowager and Regent, gaining complete power. Wu poisoned the crown prince, Li Hong, and exiled other princes so that She could put Her son, Emperor Zhongzong, on the throne. Zhongzong was weak and incompetent like his father, so the new Empress Wei sought to place herself in the same position of authority that Empress Wu had enjoyed. Wu then deposed Emperor Zhongzong and placed another puppet on the throne for a while, before finally becoming the sole ruler of China in 690. She remained in power until She fell ill in 705, and a coup returned the throne to Her son Zhongzong. She died the same year.

Maria, daughter of Harald III of Norway

Harald Sigurdsson was the King of Norway from 1046 to 1066. As a young man, he had to flee Norway because he had backed his half-brother Olaf’s claim to the Norwegian throne and was defeated. He and his men went to Russia, where they served as soldiers of Yaroslav I the Wise. Later, they became mercenaries in the Byzantine Varangian Guard. Harald became commander of the Varangian Guard and was involved in the imperial dynastic disputes. Harald spent time in prison because of palace intrigue. In 1042, he requested to leave, but the Empress refused. He escaped and returned to Russia, where he prepared his campaign to claim the Norwegian throne for himself. The Chronicle of the Kings of Norway Saga of Harald Hardrade mentions,

There was a young and beautiful girl called Maria, a brother’s daughter of the Empress, Zoe, and Harald had paid his addresses to her, but the Empress had given him a refusal.

Based on the saga, Michael Ennis wrote a novel, Byzantium, where he speculated about a passionate love affair between Maria and Harald, of which Ennis vividly describes the details. They tried to flee Constantinople together. They ran into a Russian fleet that attacked the city. Maria died, but Harald escaped. The accounts of what transpired diverged, and Ennis filled in the gaps with his imagination. In 1046, Harald returned to Norway and took the throne. On his way back, he stayed in Russia and married Elisiv, a daughter of Yaroslav I. I always had an interest in the Byzantine Empire. That made me read the novel. As I don’t read many books, it is noteworthy.

After failing to conquer Denmark, Harald set his eyes on England. There, he died during the invasion of the country in 1066 AD. His demise is part of a coincidental scheme related to D-Day, as mentioned in The Virtual Universe. Harald’s daughter Maria died on the same day in Norway, a remarkable coincidence. In his book, Ennis speculates that Maria was the reincarnation of Harald’s former lover, who wanted to be with him. She dropped dead when he died. Ordinary people can’t reincarnate into whom they desire or drop dead at the time of their choosing. And so, Maria could have been God. The Finnish band Turisas dedicated a song named ‘The Great Escape’ to Harald, a noteworthy coincidence.

Hildegard Von Bingen
Hildegard Von Bingen

Hildegard von Bingen

Hildegard von Bingen (1098-1179) was a German Benedictine abbess and polymath active as a writer, composer, philosopher, mystic, visionary, medical writer and practitioner. There are more surviving chants by Von Bingen than by any other composer from the entire Middle Ages. She is one of the few known composers to have written both the music and the words. She corresponded with popes, heads of state and emperors. She travelled often during Her preaching tours. Abbots and abbesses sought the prayers and opinions of Von Bingen on various matters.

Hildegard von Bingen claimed to have had visions as a little child. She had unusual perceptions and realised these were visions. Von Bingen explained that she saw all things in the light of God through the five senses: sight, hearing, taste, smell, and touch. Based on these experiences, Von Bingen wrote three books of visionary theology. She also wrote extensively about medicine from Her practical experience. She spoke out against corrupting church practices such as simony.

Von Bingen further wrote, ‘Woman may be made from man, but no man can be made without a woman.’ It refers to the story in Genesis, in which God created Eve from Adam’s rib, perhaps to poke fun by implying the tale is illogical. While promoting chastity, Von Bingen was the author of the first known description of the female orgasm,

When a woman is making love with a man, a sense of heat in her brain, which brings with it sensual delight, communicates the taste of that delight during the act and summons forth the emission of the man’s seed. And when the seed has fallen into its place, that vehement heat descending from her brain draws the seed to itself and holds it, and soon the woman’s sexual organs contract, and all the parts that are ready to open up during the time of menstruation now close, in the same way as a strong man can hold something enclosed in his fist.

The lively description suggests, not only first-hand knowledge Von Bingen should not have acquired during Her lifetime as a nun, but also a lack of shame comparable to Eve. And, according to Von Bingen, Adam had a pure voice. He joined the angels in singing praises to God before the Fall. That is also knowledge Von Bingen could not have acquired during Her lifetime. She either made it up or was present when it happened. If She had been Eve, She was there. Around the time Von Bingen lived, an anonymous monk in the Netherlands wrote down the oldest known written sentence in the Dutch language,

hebban olla uogala nestas hagunnan hinase hic anda thu uuat unbidan uue nu.


The English translation is, ‘Have all birds started nests except me and you. Do we start now?’ A teacher at my primary school told the class about this text. The lines remained in my mind. Later, I imagined a Gregorian chant based on these words when Sadeness from Enigma was often on the radio. These lines intrigued me for no apparent reason, it seemed at the time, and I now suspect that the monk had Hildegard von Bingen in mind. Did they meet? It seems unlikely. Perhaps, he had a vision of Her.

15th century miniature depicting Joan Of Arc
15th-century miniature depicting Joan of Arc

Joan of Arc

In 1429, the situation was desperate. There was no hope for France. The English and their ally, Burgundy, had overrun most of France. Only a small pocket of resistance remained. It is not the start of an episode of Asterix & Obelix, but the story of Joan of Arc (1412-1431). She started as an uneducated peasant girl from Domrémy, an obscure village in Northern France and became a military leader who changed the course of history. After years of defeats, the leadership of France had been demoralised and discredited.

The seventeen-year-old Joan joined a relief army to end the siege of Orléans. She arrived at the city in April 1429, wielding Her banner and bringing hope to the demoralised French army. Nine days after her arrival, the English abandoned the siege. Joan encouraged the French to aggressively pursue the English, which led to another decisive victory at Patay, opening the way for the French army to advance on Reims, where the French crowned their new King with Joan at his side.

But fortunes changed. After the coronation, Joan participated in the unsuccessful siege of Paris in September 1429 and the failed siege of La Charité in November. In early 1430, Joan organised a company of volunteers to relieve Compiègne, which the Burgundians had been besieging. There, Burgundian troops captured Joan. She tried to escape, but the Burgundians handed Her to the English. The English put Joan on trial and burned Her at the stake as a witch.

Joan of Arc led the French army to several crucial victories that boosted French morale and changed the course of the war. She claimed to have divine guidance. Modern scholars try to explain Joan’s visions as delusions, like they usually do, but documents from that time indicate Joan was healthy and sane. She was only nineteen when She died. In the decades that followed, France prevailed. Was She God in disguise? Probably so..

Latest revision: 29 October 2025

Featured image: Roman sculpture of Cleopatra wearing a royal diadem. Altes Museum in Germany. Wikipedia. Public Domain.

1. Lend Me Your Ears: Great Speeches in History. William Safire (2004). Rosetta Books.
2. The Demonisation of Empress Wu. Mike Dash (2012). Smithsonian.

Born of God

nivtric1 Comment

The Gospel of John remarkably differs from the other gospels. Matthew and Luke say that Jesus’ mother was a virgin. Mark doesn’t mention it, while John claims that Jesus was with God in the beginning, that in him was life, and that life was the light of all humankind. It refers to Genesis, where, in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. But that earth was formless, empty, and covered by darkness, so God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light. John remains cryptic and goes on to say (John 1:9-13),

The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognise him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God- children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.

Christians are born of God. Jesus gave us the right to become children of God. That is why Jesus said that he was the life apart from being the way and the truth (John 14:6). Men can’t give birth, so God must be a Mother. John doesn’t say Jesus was Adam, who begot humanity by being the husband of Eve, who was God. He rephrased it as Jesus giving us the right to become children of God. The same author, who was not the Apostle John, clarifies in his first epistle what it means that Jesus is the Son of God (1 John 5:1),

Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves His child as well.

How come that God the ‘Father’ gave birth to Jesus? Somehow, everyone ignores the glaringly obvious, and no one asks that question. When there has always been a giant, stinky rat in the kitchen, you probably don’t notice the smell. The phrase born of God occurs several times in this letter (1 John 2:29, 3:9, 4:7, 5:1, 5:4, 5:18). Today, Christians assume that the phrase ‘born of God’ has only a spiritual meaning as Jesus likened entering the kingdom of God to being born again when answering a question posed by a Pharisee named Nicodemus (John 3:3-6),

Jesus replied, ‘Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.’ ‘How can someone be born when they are old?’ Nicodemus asked. ‘Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!’ Jesus answered, ‘Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit.’

Nicodemus mentions the womb, so the phrase ‘born of God’ implies that God is a Mother. That raises a question. If the early church leaders went to such great lengths to remove all the evidence of God being a Mother, how could they have overlooked the phrase ‘born of God’? The correct answer is that they didn’t. The language of the Gospels is Greek. Greek culture dominated the ancient Eastern Mediterranean, where Christianity spread. Learned Jews like Paul were well-acquainted with Greek thinking. Greek thought and mythology helped the early church fathers reconstruct their religion after changing God’s gender.

In Greek mythology, Athena, the goddess of wisdom, was born from the head of the male deity Zeus. As the tale went, Zeus’ head opened to let Athena out and closed again. In this way, a male deity could give birth. And that was very convenient. When the church fathers altered God’s gender, they may have initially thought of the Zeus and Athena analogy, so Jesus was born of the Father. There is another enlightening piece of evidence, the Odes of Solomon. These are first-century Christian writings, thus of the earliest days of Christianity. Ode 19 (here is that number again) comes with the following lines,

A cup of milk was offered to me: and I drank it in the sweetness of the delight of the Lord.
The Son is the cup, and He who was milked is the Father.
And the Holy Spirit milked Him: because His breasts were full, and it was necessary for Him that His milk should be sufficiently released.
And the Holy Spirit opened His bosom and mingled the milk from the two breasts of the Father, and gave the mixture to the world without their knowledge.1

No other ancient Christian text explicitly mentions gender-related attributes of God. Here, God has female physical characteristics despite being called Father. And because it is an ancient text dating from Christianity’s first century, the Father was first a Mother.

Latest revision: 20 September 2025

Featured image: Bible: Only God Knows What Jesus Really Said. Loesje.org.

1. The Lost Bible: Forgotten Scriptures Revealed. J.R. Porter (2001).

Eve in the Garden Of Eden

Mother Goddess Eve

nivtric1 Comment

In archaeological excavations, female figurines have turned up. They could depict mother goddesses. The most famous example is the Venus of Willendorf, dating back to around 23,000 BC. In ancient cultures, mother goddesses represented fertility. The ability of women to produce offspring could have been the essence of Mother Goddess worship. Women give birth, and early humans may not have understood that men were the fathers. They may have thought men had no reproductive use and existed to please the women. Consequently, the Mother Goddess can give birth as a virgin, which is the miracle of the Mother Goddess. One of the best-known Mother Goddesses was Isis.

Venus of Willendorf


Women can be sure that their children are their own, but men can’t. When the fathers of children are unknown, families are often matrilineal, meaning that family lines run through mothers. The goddess worship may have disappeared because men desired to control women and their sexuality. The transition from hunting and gathering to agriculture may have played a crucial role in this development.

Hunter-gatherers were wanderers. They had fewer territorial conflicts. Population density was low, and they had no property, so it was easier to move on if a stronger group invaded a band’s territory.1
That changed with the advent of agriculture. Farmers had to defend their property and families against thieves and invaders. It became a matter of life and death, so warfare became more common and deadly. Giving up territory would mean starvation. Men are willing to protect women and children they consider their own. And they can walk out when they doubt their fatherhood. That gave them a position of power, allowing patriarchy to emerge.

Male dominance is almost universal among humans, with only a few exceptions, so it is something more than merely a cultural phenomenon. Our closest relatives, the chimpanzees, live in groups led by males, while the bonobos live in groups dominated by females. And so, it may be a natural inclination of humans.1 When women and men have an equal status, women may more often boss men, but there is something in human nature that favours men as clan leaders. As humans are programmable and have varying cultures, they can overcome their natural inclinations and choose female leaders, or make female leadership the standard in their societies, and invent myths to justify the arrangement, such as stories about the Mother Goddess creating the man as a companion for the woman.

As we have no written records, we know little about the lives of hunter-gatherers, their leaders and their family structures. Still, we do know that there must have been an enormous cultural diversity, as they lived in small groups that had little or no contact with each other. The lifestyle of hunter-gatherers was more favourable for female leadership and matrilineal families than farmer communities, so that female leadership and matrilineal families likely were more common before the Agricultural Revolution. Relatively peaceful conditions and a belief that men have no reproductive role, thus only exist to please women, could easily produce female-centred societies.

In her book, When God Was a Woman, historian Merlin Stone claims that goddess worship was the earliest religion in the Near and Middle East. The Creator was a woman before men rewrote history. Stone bases her claim on the discovery of female figurines in archaeological finds. In a 7,000-year-old settlement in Turkey, where archaeologists also found these figurines, families were matrilineal.2

The Garden of Eden features in an ancient Mesopotamian myth, the Epic of Gilgamesh. The garden was near the rivers Tigris and the Euphrates. The Jews lived in exile in Babylon when their priests compiled their holy scriptures. The first chapters of Genesis take place in Mesopotamia. Jewish scribes tailored Mesopotamian myths to their needs and incorporated them into the Jewish Bible.

In the Epic of Gilgamesh, the gods created a man from clay, much like in Genesis. In another creation myth, a goddess gave birth to humanity. There probably were other creation accounts as well. Eve was Adam’s mother in the original tale. It makes more sense than Eve coming from Adam’s rib. She is the Mother of All the Living (Genesis 3:20), and we are the woman’s offspring (seed) (Genesis 3:15). Elsewhere in the Bible, a child is the father’s offspring, which is a noteworthy difference. It implies that we come from women and that men have no reproductive role. That perspective sheds a new light on what Eve said about giving birth to Cain (Genesis 4:1),

Adam made love to his wife Eve, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Cain. She said, ‘With the help of the Lord I have brought forth a man.’

It wasn’t making love to Adam that made Eve give birth, but the help of the Lord. That is noteworthy because we are the woman’s offspring (seed). Perhaps Eve didn’t need Adam to have a child. There is another explanation. Long before the Jews went into exile in Babylon and picked up the story about the Garden of Eden, Asherah was the wife of El. They together were the supreme gods of the Canaanite divine council.3 Perhaps they, together, not only brought forth lesser deities like Yahweh, but also humanity, starting with Cain and Abel, so that Asherah was the Mother of All the Living.4 Later on, the Jews grew particularly attached to Yahweh, so Yahweh became their supreme deity, replacing El.

Asherah then became Yahweh’s wife. When the Jews were in exile in Babylon, they drew on local myths to rewrite their creation account. They took a story in which the first woman gave birth to the first man, and may have turned the goddess Asherah into the woman Eve. And so, Adam came somewhat late for the first man. Asherah then went out of the window, as the Jews became monotheists. That is speculation in the realm of biblical scholars, and few have dared to delve into this particular matter, for there is too little information to draw such a conclusion. However, it is plausible and explains this peculiarity quite neatly, which is a quality that the truth also possesses.

In the original Mesopotamian tale, Eve gave birth to Adam without prior sexual intercourse. The miracle of the Mother Goddess is the virgin birth. Jesus supposedly was born of a virgin. As God supposedly was Jesus’ Father, he couldn’t have had a human father. That is the reason we know about. However, it was also an allusion to Adam’s birth. Jesus was God’s son because he was Adam reincarnate, the son of Eve, who was God. In scriptural religions, inventing a new story is preferable to contradicting an existing one, as that would imply that the scriptures are corrupt. And you can’t have that, most notably when Paul was around. The virgin birth was a necessity if God was to become Jesus’ father, but it also reflected God being Jesus’ mother, as God’s name was also Mary. It miraculously solved two problems, making early Christians agree on this compromise.

The Bible claims that God created a man from the dust of the ground (Genesis 2:7) to work in the garden (Genesis 2:15) and made a woman as a companion for the man (Genesis 2:18). This is a result of merging with another creation myth. Mesopotamia had several creation myths, including one where the gods fashioned a man from clay to do the work. Also, the Bible has two. In Genesis 1, God creates all that is, and then in Genesis 2, God repeats some of that work. There has been some patching around here and there to glue these two stories.

In the original story of Eve and Adam, the purpose of the man was to be a mate for the woman. A reason to think so is that Genesis mentions the woman’s desire for her husband rather than the man’s desire for his wife (Genesis 3:16). If you live in a modern society that has undergone several waves of feminism, you may not realise how odd noting a woman’s desire for a man truly is. The Bible is a product of a patriarchal society. In a patriarchal society, a woman is often a man’s possession, and her desires are of no consequence. The original tale thus had a woman’s perspective. Eve was the leading character. She discussed eating the fruit with the serpent and made Adam eat from it (Genesis 3:1-6). And it was Eve who commented on the birth of Cain, not Adam (Genesis 4:1).

Also noteworthy is that a man left his father and mother to be with his wife (Genesis 2:24). This was how life was in Eden. In patrilineal societies, family groups centre around fathers, while matrilineal societies centre around mothers. Women join their husbands’ families in patrilineal societies. The man leaving his father and mother thus suggests that family groups in Eden were matrilineal. Experts still debate whether hunter-gatherers lived in patrilineal or matrilineal groups. The limited interest of men in childcare suggests that matrilineal groups could have been the standard as long as there were no compelling reasons to do otherwise. These reasons emerged with the advent of agriculture. The title Mother of All the Living may also refer to the Mother Goddess.5 Ashera was the Mother Goddess in Canaan, and one of the deities of the Jews before they became monotheists. Eve also resembles Namma, the primordial mother in the story of Enki and Ninmah.

The Fall is about the curse of knowledge. More knowledge doesn’t make your life better. Knowledge of agriculture allowed the switch from hunting and gathering to agriculture, and condemned humankind to a life of toil. The life of hunter-gatherers was more agreeable than the plight of farmers who came later on. They had a more varied diet, worked fewer hours, and spent their time doing more exciting things. Additionally, they were less likely to face starvation, disease, and warfare. The Agricultural Revolution did increase the total amount of available food. However, all this extra food didn’t result in a better diet or life, but only in more people, including elites such as kings and priests, who ate the extra food. The peasants worked harder than the foragers before them and got a poorer life in return.1

And so, there is a profound wisdom hidden in the Bible. The Garden of Eden provided for everything. It was the natural state of humans. Eve and Adam were nude (Genesis 2:25), like hunter-gatherers in the jungle today. Eve and Adam might have been vegetarians in Paradise, as God told Adam that he was free to eat from any tree in the garden, except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. It doesn’t mention hunting or eating animals, implying animals were not on their menu. That is noteworthy as hunter-gathering included hunting. After the Fall, working the land became a life of toil (Genesis 3:17-19), the curse of the Agricultural Revolution. The original tale was also about the downfall of women. Women had to obey their husbands from then on (Genesis 3:16).

In ancient cultures, people venerated snakes for their wisdom and knowledge, so consulting a snake for advice was not unusual. The tree of knowledge relates to the sacred tree, which may explain why it was forbidden to eat from it. Eve’s deed may reflect the role of women in starting the Agricultural Revolution. Farmers must protect their crops from thieves. Otherwise, they face starvation. That condemned men to a life of warfare. And so, Cain, a crop planter, murdered Abel, a cattle herder. Perhaps Cain had only meagre offerings to God because Abel’s animals ate from his crops.

The Abrahamic religions disagree with our Creator being a woman. The Jewish deity Yahweh and the Arabian deity Allah were male, even though many people now think God has no gender. Yahweh and Allah had wives and children before monotheism took over. Allah was at first the supreme deity of Mecca. Later, the owner of the universe appropriated this title. To address the confusion this act generated, the Quran stresses that God has no partner or children. Unlike Christians, Jews and Muslims don’t see God as a Father. But Christians are born of God, a most remarkable wording indeed.

The Quran extensively mentions the creation of Adam but says little about the origin of Eve. The Quran doesn’t claim that Eve came from Adam’s rib but that men and women come from one soul (Quran 4:1, 7:189). It relates to Genesis 1:27, in which God created males and females in His image, so that the soul could be God. The Quran further claims that God created Jesus like Adam from dust (Quran 3:59). The Quran also corroborates the virgin birth story of Jesus (Quran 3:47, 66:12). Christians understand the virgin birth story in the context of God being Jesus’ Father, so that he can’t have a human father. However, the Quran makes it clear that God is not Jesus’ Father. And so, being created from dust could refer to birth from a virgin, so Eve could have been Adam’s mother.

The account of the Fall in the Quran differs from the one in Genesis in some noteworthy aspects. The Quran features no serpent, and Eve didn’t make Adam eat from the tree. The Quran holds both Eve and Adam responsible for the Fall (Quran 7:19-23). Another fragment only blames Adam,

But Satan whispered to him, saying, ‘O Adam! Shall I show you the Tree of Immortality and a kingdom that does not fade away?’ So they both [Eve and Adam]] ate from the tree and then their nakedness was exposed to them, prompting them to cover themselves with leaves from Paradise. So Adam disobeyed his Lord, and so he lost his way.

(Quran 20:120-121)

The historical context of the original story, the curse of the Agricultural Revolution, and the role of women in it have been lost in the Quran. The first Christians believed that Eve was God, the Mother of all the Living, who gave birth to Adam, that Mary Magdalene was Eve, and Jesus was Adam. So Adam and, therefore, Jesus were the Son of God. Humanity descends from Eve, so we are God’s children (John 1:13), but also Jesus’ children.

Tribespeople feel a connection to each other because they believe they share common ancestors. The stories about these common ancestors are myths, such as the tale about Eve and Adam. Eve and Adam came alive again as Mary Magdalene and Jesus. The myth of Eve and Adam can turn humanity into a single tribe. It is the reason why Christians wait for Jesus’ return. And so, Paul may have realised that the good news of Jesus concerns humankind rather than just the Jews.

Latest revision: 28 August 2025

Featured image: Eve in the Garden of Eden. Henri Rousseau (1906-1910). Public Domain. Wikimedia Commons.

Other images: Venus of Willendorf. Don Hitchcock (2008). Wikimedia Commons.

1. A Brief History Of Humankind. Yuval Noah Harari (2014). Harvil Secker.
2. Ancient ‘female-centered’ society thrived 9,000 years ago in proto-city in Turkey. Kristina Killgrove (2025). Livescience.
3. Daniel O. McClellan, Deity and Divine Agency in the Hebrew Bible: Cognitive Perspectives (PhD diss., University of Exeter, 2020) 327
4. Eve as a goddess/consort of Yahweh? r/AskBibleScholars (2024). [link]
5. Asherah – Wikipedia [link]: Some scholars have found an early link between Asherah and Eve, based upon the coincidence of their common title as “the mother of all living” in Genesis 3:20 through the identification with the Hurrian mother goddess Hebat. Asherah was also given the title Chawat, from which the name Hawwah in Aramaic and the biblical name Eve are derived.

Lucretia Garfield. Library Of Congres

The Identity of God

nivtric2 Comments

We live inside a virtual reality created by an advanced civilisation to entertain an individual we call God. Like it or not, it is why we exist. That civilisation probably is humanoid, which means that God is like us, with human imaginations and desires. What is also worth noting, and what can hurt your ego, is that all that happens goes according to a script, so that thinking of us as mere worms would be a delusion of grandeur. Think of it. Real worms decide for themselves how they grovel and when. And we don’t. Welcome to the Theatre of the Absurd. We are mere actors in a play, and no one thinks. We follow the script, and there is no exit, no life outside, like in the film The Matrix. The road to enlightenment starts with the acceptance of our complete insignificance.

So what about René Descartes, that world-famous fellow who once said, ‘I think, therefore I exist.’ Was he wrong? As the reasoning above painfully lays out, he starts with a debatable assumption: ‘I think.’ He then arrives at a logical conclusion: ‘Therefore, I exist.’ That made him stamp a realness certificate on his person. But logic in fantasy land is just basing conclusions on imagined assumptions. At least the logic is infallible. So, did Descartes think? Not really. Even then, he might still have had an existence. That is also dubious, however, because God imagined us. You can ask yourself: Do Spike and Suzy exist? They are comic characters created by Willy Vandersteen, who no longer exists, if he had ever done so, because he has stopped breathing. If you go down that road, everything you imagine exists. I just imagined a unicorn. Do unicorns now exist?

That is the question of being. Philosophers discuss such questions. Scientists agree that merely thinking of a unicorn doesn’t make it real. Saying ‘be’ doesn’t generate a bee. You can give such a command to a computer, and you get a simulation of a bee. Now you get how God could have created this world in six days. It might as well have been six seconds. So, if God exists, we don’t, and we are imaginations like unicorns. Countless non-existent minds have wasted their time and energy on the question, ‘Does God exist?’ Indeed, the gods we imagine also don’t exist because we imagine them, and that includes the God of Abraham. There is only God who exists in reality.

If we exist to entertain an individual from an advanced civilisation, God must be a person who, unlike us, might be real. Yes, God might be yet another virtual reality character in a simulation layer above us, but that is beyond our possibilities to find out. And let’s not waste our time on questions we can’t answer. So, who is this person, God? That we cannot know. Still, we might uncover something, at least. If we are here to entertain God, what is the fun of standing on the sidelines? Why not take part yourself? If God plays roles and becomes one of us, we might identify some of those individuals. The starting point for the inquiry is Jesus. No one had ever felt a closer relationship with God than he, so there is a good chance he knew God as a person.

The Gospels tell us that Jesus called God ‘Father’. They suggest a close personal relationship, so Jesus thought of himself as the Son of God. There is something off about Jesus’ Father as He can give birth (John 1:12-13). All four official Gospels imply that Jesus was the bridegroom (Mark 2:19-20, Matthew 9:15, Luke 5:34-35, John 3:27-30), but don’t mention the bride, which is also quite mysterious. The Church tells us that Jesus married the Church. Now, the Church didn’t exist when Jesus lived, so a historian would call it an anachronism. It is like saying that the Roman Emperor Caesar took an aeroplane to Egypt to spend his holidays with Cleopatra. That is impossible because there were no aeroplanes 2,000 years ago. The Gospels don’t say Jesus married the Church. The Church didn’t exist yet, and Jesus wasn’t planning to found it either. So, why would the Church lie about Jesus’ marriage? Are we not allowed to know the truth?

You can smell a rat here. And it is a huge and smelly one. Christians claim that God is love. Jews and Muslims don’t. Do they not worship the same deity? Is there something missing that Jesus’ inner circle knew about? And is it the identity of the Bride? That is indeed the case. The Bride of Christ was God in the person of Mary Magdalene. She was one of God’s avatars. She made Jesus believe he was Adam reincarnated and that She was Eve reincarnated, that Eve didn’t come from Adam’s rib but that Eve gave birth to Adam, and that they were an eternal couple living from the beginning of Creation until the End of Times. That is why Jesus believed he was the Son of God.

Simon Peter said to Jesus, ‘You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.’ (Matthew 16:16) This phrase appears in the Jewish Bible (Deuteronomy 5:26, Jeremiah 10:10, Psalm 42:2), but Simon Peter’s use of it is noteworthy. In Deuteronomy, the living God refers to God’s active presence on Earth, meaning that God is not some mythical figure, of which we only have tales, nor some lifeless statue, but someone present in our midst. In Moses’ time, it was a pillar of fire. With the Bride gone, these words have lost their meaning, which led some later Christians to believe that Jesus was God.

Jesus was God’s son because Adam was. Hence, Adam is the Son of God (Luke 3:38), Jesus is the Firstborn of all Creation (Colossians 1:15), and Jesus gave us the right to become children of God who are born of God (John 1:12-13). As Adam, he was the father and God the Mother of humankind. The Jewish scriptures about the fantasy character, Yahweh, also known as the God of Abraham, don’t mention that. And so, Paul, who took these scriptures as seriously as a Pharisee, perhaps because he was a former Pharisee, made God male in his theology and persuaded the early Church to do the same. He succeeded because his work made it possible to unite the early Church. Muhammad also married God in the person of Khadijah bint Khuwaylid. Unlike Jesus, he didn’t know.

Those who take offence at God in the person of Eve marrying Her son Adam, but accept that God allowed millions of people to be slaughtered in wars or die of terrible diseases, or even chose to do so, have a problem with their priorities. And by the way, you are not in a position to judge God. In any case, the story of Eve and Adam is a myth. Eve never took Her son as Her husband, as Eve and Adam never existed. It is only what Mary Magdalene made Jesus believe. So, you can rest assured that nothing of that kind ever happened, except for the millions of people that God let die due to wars and diseases. A possible excuse for doing so is that it makes the simulation more realistic. Apart from that, everything being peachy all the time doesn’t make for a good story.

Jesus and Muhammad have lived. The accounts of their lives may be inaccurate because they date from decades after they died, but the early history of the Israelites in the Jewish Bible – the Jews call it Tanakh – is a fantasy. Archaeological evidence doesn’t support it. Moses never brought the Israelites from Egypt into the Promised Land. The story still has a historical origin. Around the time Moses allegedly lived, the Egyptians who governed Canaan went home, thereby liberating Israel from Egyptian oppression. Later on, the account in the Bible often has a closer relationship to historical events.

That leaves us with a question: how did God meddle with the Jewish nation and their religion? Historians have discovered that the Canaanites gradually formed tribes and, later, petty kingdoms after the Egyptians had departed, in what the Jewish Bible refers to as the Era of the Judges. Local leaders organised warfare and settled disputes. They were the judges. The Jewish Bible says they had nationwide authority, but that is incorrect.

The oldest source of the entire Jewish Bible is the Song of Deborah. Historians believe the song dates back to shortly after the Egyptians left. It likely didn’t pop up out of nowhere. Deborah brought victory to a tribe that later became part of the Jewish nation. Deborah attributed that victory to Yahweh, who, as a son of the Canaanite supreme deity El, would otherwise have remained an obscure, inferior deity. In this way, Deborah initiated the Yahweh cult, which today has four billion followers. The historical genesis of the Bible is not Creation but Deborah. She is the Mother of Israel and likely the earliest historical figure in the Jewish Bible, the founder of the Jewish nation, and an avatar of God.

The God of Abraham, known as Yahweh, the Father, and Allah, thus is a veil behind which the owner of this universe has operated so far. She only revealed Herself to Jesus. It made Jesus a unique prophet who came to see himself as the eternally living Son of God. No evidence suggests that Jesus was Adam, but God made him think he was. God, as Mary Magdalene, convinced Jesus that someone had corrupted the story of Eve and Adam. She appealed to rational thinking, as Eve’s creation from Adam’s rib makes less sense than Adam having been Eve’s son. God could have pointed out traces of fraud, such as Eve being the Mother of All the Living. So, what about Adam, who called her like so? Apart from that, Mary Magdalene must have had a very persuasive personality because She made him die on the cross. Jesus thus placed evidence and logic over religious dogmas. He was a true religious revolutionary. Sadly, logical evidence-based religion was a tradition that soon died with him. He was 2,000 years ahead of his time.

That God is a Mother who can appear as an ordinary woman is not that far-fetched. The leader of the Church Ministry of Mother of All Creation cult claimed she was God and that God had had 534 lives, including Jesus, Cleopatra, Joan of Arc, and Marilyn Monroe. The latter three guesses might be spot-on, but her claim of having been Jesus proves she made it all up. Mary Magdalene, however, may not only have claimed it, but also succeeded in convincing Jesus of it, and then let him start a world religion that now has over two billion followers. We have yet to see the leader of the Church Ministry of Mother of All Creation cult pull that off.

Jesus’ inner circle knew that God had wedded Jesus, but the Gospels don’t mention this crucial factoid that everyone would have wanted to know. Scholars didn’t ask themselves why there were no surviving eyewitness accounts. Isn’t that suspicious? Here is your answer. And why did the early leaders of the Church do it? To religious Jews, the idea of God being a woman who married Jesus was alien or even blasphemous. Most early Christians were Jewish followers who had heard of Jesus and his miracles but lacked detailed knowledge of his life and teachings.

Jewish prophets were human, and they expected a human messiah rather than a godlike being. In their view, Jesus was a mere human, so if you read Mark, Matthew or Luke, Jesus appears human, not godlike. And so, the Jews couldn’t handle that God is a woman who can take a human form and marry Jesus. Gentiles had no problem with it. They have tales about female deities and gods having sex with humans. That is why the Gospel of John is so different from the others. It was a controversy that tore the early Church apart.

A compromise, the Christian theology invented by Paul, resolved the conflict. Paul turned Jesus into a godlike Jewish messiah, the eternally living Son of God, the one promised by the Jewish scriptures. It required some imagination and twisting of the facts to reconcile these two irreconcilable viewpoints. Paul’s theology became the Christianity we know today. Try to understand it from God’s perspective. She lives eternally, or at least thousands of years, and uses us to pass Her time. Girls just want to have fun. That brings us to messages in pop music. The song ‘Gimme the Prize’ by Queen has the following lines,

Here I am, I’m the master of your destiny
I am the one, the only one, I am the God of kingdom come
…
Give me your kings, let me squeeze them in my hands
Your puny princes
Your so-called leaders of your land
I’ll eat them whole before I’m done
The battle’s fought, and the game is won

Queen, Gimme the Prize

Queen is the performing artist, so the hidden message is that the God of the coming kingdom is a Queen. The song features threats against the so-called leaders of the world. That looks like an end-of-time scenario. It is a queer pun, and Freddy Mercury was the performing artist. In the video clip of another Queen song, ‘I Want to Break Free,’ Mercury and the band members dressed in women’s clothing. In Western Europe, we found it funny. That was different elsewhere. The song had a lukewarm reception in the United States, a country that has culturally enriched us with websites like godhatesfags.com. Today, the hatred of LGBTQ people by conservative Christians is getting out of hand. The joke is on them. Early Christians have performed a sex change on God in their scriptures.

Muslims take blasphemy very seriously. Hurt Muslim feelings have made the headlines. Making cartoons of Muhammad can be your death sentence. But why only Muhammad? He isn’t God. Is he of a higher stature than Moses or Jesus? God made those mockers do what they did. The reward for killing a comedian will not be 72 desperate virgins trying to abuse you. Abrahamic religions have restricted the freedom of women, but Islam more than the others. Like Jesus, Muhammad married God, but unlike Jesus, he didn’t know. He had a loving marriage after his wife, Khadijah bint Khuwaylid, proposed to him. Islam may be a funny religion, but Christianity is even more comical.

Paul’s obfuscation of the relationship between God and Jesus gave Christianity its unique and baffling theology. Drinking Christ’s blood, eating his body, and the resurrection of the dead could be good ingredients for a motion picture called Zombie Apocalypse. Indeed, these rituals and beliefs are odd and could suit a cannibalistic sect. The outlandishness of Christianity begins with the idea that we are all cursed because Eve and Adam sinned. And then came Jesus, who sacrificed himself for our sins, so you can save yourself by following him. It seems outlandish, but Paul’s intervention is the most ingenious part of God’s plan. Humans are the most destructive species that have ever roamed this planet, and we are about to destroy ourselves. Only our ability to believe in fairy tales can unite us and make us perform extraordinary deeds. Thinking we are morally depraved, unworthy of God’s grace and in dire need of a saviour can save us from our collective stupidity.

Latest revision: 29 November 2025

Featured image: Lucretia Garfield