Customer Reviews

Forbidden Religion: Suppressed Heresies of the West

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Edited by Douglas Kenyon, the editor and publisher of the bimonthly journal "Atlantis Rising", Forbidden Religion: Suppressed Heresies of the West is an expose of hidden religions banned by the orthodox Church, from the time prior to Christ to the turbulent times of the Cathars and the Templars, to the Masons of the New World and much more. From connections between the roots of Western faith and ancient Egyptian religion, to the true identities of the three magi, to the real clandestine organization behind the secrets in the popular novel "The Da Vinci Code", Forbidden Religion covers a mind-expanding plethora of little-contemplated history affecting modern concepts of faith. Black-and-white photographs and a glorious section of inset color plates illustrate this one-of-a-kind survey of the nether corners of Western religious history.

The editor of Atlantis Rising and author of the bestselling Forbidden History, J. Douglas Kenyon has compiled an esoteric anthology of essays by various authors on everything from Christ's contact with spiritual teachers in India to the Essenes being influenced by the militant Zealots who recognized Jesus' potential for being the ultimate usurper of established authority in the ancient world.
''Included in Forbidden History are such authors as John Chambers, whose essay on Dostoyevsky and Spiritualism will enrich nearly any soul desiring to contact the more subtle dimensions of the famous Russian writer's work; Cynthia Logan's intriguing treatise on the role of Christ's brother James; Peter Novak's essay on what the wise men were really searching for in the star of Bethlehem quest; and Steven Sora's attempt to address the perennial enigma of the true author of Shakespeare's work.
''My only qualm about some of the essays was that they were rather teasing in a sound bite kind of way. As an example, John Chamber's article on Giordano Bruno only touches upon the ghastly execution of this profoundly influential heretic who dared to challenge the religious authorities of his time. (Bruno was one of the first to suggest that there are an infinite number of galaxies, thus shattering the terracentric bias of the church fathers.) But Chambers neglects to mention who risked their lives to carry on Bruno's work and what underground means were required to smuggle his knowledge past the inquisition's ubiquitous customs agents.
''Additionally, there are a couple of occult reprobate writers whose work is included, but whose overall motives are rather suspect. For instance, Mark Amaru Pinkham in The Truth Behind the Christ Myth, suggests that Sananda Kumara is Jesus himself, in another guise. But Kumara is actually a dubious "ascended master" who was promoted by cult leader Elizabeth Clair Prophet and her Universal Church Triumphant. (Prophet charged her followers $10,000 for bomb shelters to hide during the 1980s, during the Apocalypse that she predicted to occur shortly after this time. )
''Regardless of the editor's lack of discernment, this book may open the way to more constructive, less reactive dialogues over some of the most controversial aspects of history.
--Jaye Beldo
Mysteries Magazine issue #20

I happened to like Forbidden Religion as far as the information they were attempting to get across. I was a little dissappointed that more information was not written about some of the pre-Templar groups that inhabited Europe during the dark ages.

The book is more of a compilation of pieces from a website and with that and little editing there can be a mass of repitition and a lack of continuity of thought. The haphazard way the book is written make a little lost in where you are thinking you are headed and the title, although very strong, is not answered as strongly in the overall message.

As far as research, without giving anything away, one of the writers hints that Bacon may have been involved in compiling the King James 1611 and that the hint is where the words Shake and Spear appear in Psalm 46 where shake is exactly the 46th word into the Psalm, and Spear is the 46th word from the end. I did a little research, yet these exact words, with different spelling for Olde English, appear as early as 1560, one year before Bacon was born. The appear at different numbering from the top and bottom. So, maybe something was being hinted here. But who knows.

Much is made of the Davinci Code type of focus, and we are updated on who the authors think the priori of sion are. What I like is that it reads like a novel and with some historical suspense. Some of the thoughts need more developing and maps and more illustrations when they speak of very specific things would be a help.

Maybe a second volume updated and edited would really make Forbidden Religion a hot item.

I have thumbed through this book many times, reluctant to buy a book culled from a magazine like "Atlantis Rising." However, sometimes it's the fringe that first makes discoveries. The mainstream will ignore and minimize until evidence conquers and fringe becomes mainstream. On the other hand, many in the fringe deserve that name and will always wallow in fantasy. This book has a bit of both. In spite of what the cover states, nothing in here has been "suppressed" and actually much of the book as little to do with religion. The first section, which is on religion, is the poorest part of the book. People who have studied religion, ancient history and myths will wonder where these people did their research (or did they?). In chapter 1 the author is fixated on Gibson's movie about Christ. He doesn't get why the movie was violent. Perhaps Gibson was trying to remind people that Easter isn't about bunnies and candy and when we say Jesus suffered, he really did. Easter has been dumbed down. Then Kenyon cites Edgar Cayce as an "authority." On pp. 10 & 11, he pushes the old Gnostics were suppressed myth. They collapsed under their own invalidity. The Church didn't have to try very hard. "Few people realize" that there aren't other fake gospels out there? Perhaps if you live in a bubble. Page 12 shows is complete lack of study of Christian study. Jesus' didn't remove responsibility from people and their sin, he removed the ultimate punishment. And if you don't get how Jesus could carry all of humankind's burden, see Beyond the Cosmos. And "rumors" are used as fact on page 12.

Chapter 2 infers Christians took beliefs from Egyptian myth. It does so by carefully selecting "evidence" and leaving out contrary facts. We are to think the Romans took the idea of the cross from Egypt. We see the similarites of Osiris and Jesus trotted out, but no mention of how Osiris married his sister, got her pregnant and was torn to pieces. More importanty, Osiris is universally accepted as myth, Jesus a historical figure (The Historical Jesus: Ancient Evidence for the Life of Christ).

Chapter 3's author can't get the dates of the bible right and doesn't know when doctrine was formed (much earlier than 325 A.D.). He bases his theories on unnamed "scholars" and "rumors." Chapter 4 invents a whole new history for James, who apparently did and said things, but apparently only this guy knows this. Chapter 5's author is miffed that people dismiss her theory. Apparently it is for no good reason and not because she has not provided any historical evidence for her Jesus-married-Mary-and-had-kids theory. She claims the Bible writers "only omitted" this. Of course they did!

Part two gets into the fascination with the Templars which is a mix of history and fantasy. For a good historical background, find Dungeon, Fire and Sword: The Knights Templar in the Crusades &The Templars: The Secret History Revealed. The latter shows the supposed rift between them and the Vatican didn't last long. In Chapter 9, if you blink, you will miss Childress' attempt to show the Templars became pirates. A giant, unsupported leap just to write a book. For more on the lost maps in Chapter 12, see Maps of the Ancient Sea Kings. Chapters 13 & 14 discuss Templars in pre-Columbus America. For a better treatment, see Templars in America. Sora's amazing scholarship includes reasoning like Verrazano knew Templars built the Newport tower but let it be labeled "Norman" anyway on the map. That's convienent. By the way, Mirtha wasn't born in a cave and no sheperds showed up. For more on the attempts to revise Jesus, see The Case for the Real Jesus.

Here on out, the book delves into Freemasons and a lot of stuff whose connections to "suppressed" religion is not always clear. So people who are new to these subjects might get excited reading this book, but if they dig deeper, it is much less impressive. The authors fall down hard on knowledge of religion. Just sloppy research or an axe to grind? There are a lot of mysteries and theories that deserve more attention (i.e. early visits to America). Those hoping for a well-researched, documented and fact-based survey of those mysteries aren't going to find much of it here.

A great review of religious history it could be put together better but a lot of great information for anyone who wants to know more about the past. Alot of great reference books if you want to expend on a particular section. I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in this subject.

The author of this book has many of the same ideas that I have. It is a great book and I highly recommend it.

forbidden religion covers a variety of topics, both past and present about religious beliefs. topics include christianity, templars and freemasons, scottish sinclairs, alchemists and the soul. i found most of the articles way too short, from 3 to 5 pages, and hardly get their point across. many of the articles are by the same authors; jeff nisbet, cynthia logan, steven sara and john chambers write the bulk of them. they cover topics from christ being married to mary and having a bloodline, to francis bacon being shakespeare. i found the most interesting article by vincent bridges on fulcanelli and the hendaye cross. overall, i would say this was a pretty fair read that needed a lot more information in their articles.

I was expecting more information dealing with the ancient religious practices, beliefs, how they were suppressed and by whom. Instead there was too much information about unrelated beliefs and subjects making the whole book seem scatterbrained. It also seemed a waste of pages to go on about "modern" new age practices that bare almost no resembalance to any ancient ways or beliefs. The ancient beliefs have been so scattered and corrupted over 1000's of years they have no real link with any of the modern ways written about in this book. Instead of wasting time about the less than honorable G. I. Gurdjieff who brough to us a corrupted version of secrets of the Brotherhood of the Sarmoung why not put the focus on the Brotherhood that may actually have some links to ancient religion. If we are wanting to continue to keep the forbidden religions alive, do we not want them with the least amount of corruption?
All that said there was new information to be learned in the book and it makes it worth reading, just don't expect a smooth ride.

This was far worse than "Forbidden History" and I gave that one a 1 star. Some of the stuff in here was just plain silly.