Warning: 'Antichrist' Movie Tricking Young Christians

Warning: 'Antichrist' movie tricking Christians
Historian: Believers throwing away real Jesus with pagan bathwater

An online movie documenting the close ties between ancient pagan religions and today's Christianity is "antichrist" in nature, destroying the faith of believers by combining some astonishing truth with plenty of error.

That's the claim of a Christian historian and author who, ironically, has himself been educating the public about the impact heathen sun worship has had on traditional Christianity.

Richard Rives, author of "Time is the Ally of Deceit" and "Too Long in the Sun," is sounding the alarm about "Zeitgeist," a 2007 documentary written and narrated by Peter Joseph, a freelance film editor, composer and producer in New York City.

Literally meaning "spirit of the time," "Zeitgeist" was released on DVD and the Internet, and Joseph claims it has been viewed more than 50 million times on Google Video, and more than 100 million times when other formats and public screenings are taken into account.

While portions of the documentary suggest the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, were an "inside job" and the U.S. Federal Reserve Bank is a tool for social control and world domination, "Part One" of the movie explores similarities between today's Christianity and ancient cultures that worshipped sun gods by a variety of different names.

It concludes Jesus of Nazareth is merely a fictional character, a combination of many fabled solar messiahs.

Joseph explains in his film:

* Horus was born on December 25th of the virgin Isis-Meri. His birth was accompanied by a star in the east, which in turn, three kings followed to locate and adorn the newborn savior. At the age of 12, he was a prodigal child teacher, and at the age of 30 he was baptized by a figure known as Anup and thus began his ministry. Horus had 12 disciples he traveled about with, performing miracles such as healing the sick and walking on water. Horus was known by many gestural names such as "the Truth," "the Light," "God's Anointed Son," "the Good Shepherd," "the Lamb of God," and many others. After being betrayed by Typhon, Horus was crucified, buried for three days, and thus, resurrected. ...

* Attis, of Phyrigia, born of the virgin Nana on December 25th, crucified, placed in a tomb and after three days, was resurrected.

* Krishna, of India, born of the virgin Devaki with a star in the east signaling his coming, performed miracles with his disciples, and upon his death was resurrected.

* Dionysus of Greece, born of a virgin on December 25th, was a traveling teacher who performed miracles such as turning water into wine, he was referred to as the "King of Kings," "God's Only Begotten Son," "the Alpha and Omega," and many others, and upon his death, he was resurrected.

* Mithra, of Persia, born of a virgin on December 25th, he had 12 disciples and performed miracles, and upon his death was buried for three days and thus resurrected, he was also referred to as "the Truth," "the Light," and many others. Interestingly, the sacred day of worship of Mithra was Sunday.

While many of today's Christians might recognize similarities to their own beliefs, they may be unaware some pieces of information in the film are not biblical at all.

For instance, the Bible does not assign Dec. 25 as the date of Jesus' birth, and "three kings" or "three wise men" are never mentioned in the related gospel accounts.

As WND previously reported, no wise men at all are shown to be visiting baby Jesus the night he was born in Bethlehem and laid in a manger. The Book of Matthew states an unspecified number of wise men showed up later to meet Jesus for the first time in a "house" when Jesus was a "young child."

"What is happening is that 'antichrists' are turning the false traditions of the theologians right back on them and the theologians do not have a biblical leg to stand on," Rives told WND. "All those who present the traditions of men can do is throw up their hands in defeat. The theologians know it and so do the antichrists such as 'Zeitgeist.'"

Rives, also known for his hunt for the Ark of the Covenant, added, "Millions of believers have watched 'Zeitgeist' and many are throwing away their long held faith in Jesus as a result. I am receiving calls from people concerned about family members who are doing just that."

Rives has designed a PowerPoint presentation to educate people about what is true and what is not when it comes to "Zeitgeist," and has recently created a rebuttal website featuring videos he posted on YouTube.

Rives states in his video response:

An attempt is also made to associate Jesus with Easter and the worship of the fertility goddess. While being right about the pagan nature of Easter, once again they are wrong about Jesus. The Jesus of the Bible was not crucified at the time of Easter. The Bible never says that. He was crucified at the time of Passover. It was almost three hundred years after the birth of Christ before the Council of Nicaea set that date. Even then, what they did was actually change the date for the observance of Passover. Theologians know that and so do the producers of "Zeitgeist."

But does knowing all this information make any difference?

Rives thinks it makes a profound one, contending, "If Christianity does not start telling the truth about the fact that many Christian traditions never had anything to do with Jesus, the antichrists will continue to claim a substantial victory."

Joseph rejects the notion "Zeitgeist" is an attack on Christians.

"The only thing the film addresses is ideology and beliefs," he explains. "Sadly, many don't realize that one's ideology is not them. We are emergent beings and everything we believe is taught to us one way or another. Therefore, to say the film is attacking 'Christians' is about as absurd as saying the film attacks people with baseball caps."

Joseph calls the claims propaganda to stop people from critically analyzing the information he presents.

"The same kind of propaganda has materialized where the project has been called 'new world order,' 'satanic' 'Marxist' and other irrational, thoughtless distinctions not worth bringing up."

Meanwhile, Peter Joseph – who actually goes by his first and middle names, preferring not to disclose his last name – is continuing to spread his message through seminars and support of the worldwide Zeitgeist Movement.

On March 15, which his group calls "ZDay," short for "Zeitgeist Day," he headlined a large New York gathering, one of an estimated 1,800 similar events in 70 countries.

At that event, according to the New York Times, Joseph said he had recently "moved away from" the idea of the 9/11 attacks being an inside job.

The Zeitgeist Movement says its ultimate aim is global "unity and equality."

According to its website, "The goal is to revise our world society in accord with present day knowledge on all levels, not only creating awareness of social and technological possibilities many have been conditioned to think impossible or against 'human nature,' but also to provide a means to overcome those elements in society which perpetuate these outdated systems."

The movement takes a harsh view of any religion, claiming, "we have been conditioned by society to think that crime, corruption and dishonesty is 'the way it is' and that there will always be people who want to abuse, hurt and take advantage of others. Religion is the largest promoter of this propaganda, for the 'us and them' or 'good and evil' mentality promotes this false assumption."