Mt. Olympus, the Devil's Mountain

The devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor.

- Matthew 4:8

The devil led him up to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world.

- Luke 4:5

The Official Logo of the Judeo/Christian Tradition

 
+ The Apocalypse of Mt. Olympus +


Many Judeo-Christian believers seem unfamiliar with the fact that Mt. Olympus, the so-called abode of the Greco-Roman gods, is specifically mentioned at least four times in the Gospels. For starters, Jesus Christ refers to it directly in both Matthew and Mark. By a careful analysis of His exact words, it should become more and more obvious that Jesus Christ, like most devout Jews during His time period, looked upon Mt. Olympus as the supernatural adversary of Mt. Sinai, a threat to Jews which, like a vampire, seemed to lurk just beyond the horizon. Because of their extended interaction with Paganism, they knew knew full well about the Greco-Roman legends surrounding this 'Heavenly' mountain. Indeed, since the time the Maccabees revolted against the Greek empire 150 years previously, numerous religious Jews had become somewhat familar with the story behind Mt. Olympus and the 'supernatural' power of their idolatrous Pagan religion. The diametric opposition of Jesus Christ and the Jews to Greco-Roman Paganism can be listed as follows:

A Tale of Two Mountains
MOUNTAIN: Mt. Olympus, Mt. Sinai
NATION: Empire, Kingdom
CAPITAL: Rome, Jerusalem
RELIGION: Paganism, Monotheism
FATHER GOD: Zeus/Jupiter, LORD God of Israel
SON OF GOD: Apollo, Jesus Christ
TWELVE: 12 gods of Rome, 12 Tribes of Israel
MORALITY: Sexual Perversion, Heterosexual Monogamy
ETHICS: Power and Might, Justice and Mercy

One of the times Mt. Olympus is mentioned in the Gospels occurs during Jesus Christ's wandering in the desert when he fasted for 40 days and 40 nights, By doing this, He brought himself closer to the holiness that had been established long ago by Moses. Just like Jesus, Moses too had fasted for 40 days in a row during the Revelation atop Mt. Sinai when God in Heaven had come down to Earth to give the Law to the 12 Tribes of Israel. However, after having fasted for so long, Jesus Christ did not encounter the God of Israel like Mose had done. Instead, He met the Devil, who tempted Him three different times. At one point, the Devil takes him to the highest mountain in the world to show him all the nations on Earth. That mountain was none other than Mt. Olympus and the Devil was none other than the Greco-Roman god Zeus/Jupiter or perhaps his son Apollo. The exact passages mentioning Christ's visit to Mt. Olympus reads as follows: 

Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. 'All this I will give you,' he said, 'if you will bow down and worship me.' Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him alone.'" Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him.

- Matthew 4:8-11

The devil led him up to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. And he said to him, 'I will give you all their authority and splendor; it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to. If you worship me, it will all be yours.' Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.’”

- Luke 4:5-8

Some may object to this interpretation and contend that the 'very high mountain' was some other mountain and not Mt. Olympus specifically. This may well be true, but remains unlikely for several reasons. First, the only being who could truly offer Jesus Christ the opportunity to rule over all the kingdoms was, in fact, Zeus/Jupiter. Indeed, it was his Pagan followers who actually ruled the Greco-Roman Empire, the largest and most powerful State on Earth at the time. No other individual had the power to offer rule over all the kingdoms except Zeus/Jupiter, king of the Greco-Roman gods of Mt. Olympus. As the Devil himself states:

 'All this I will give you,' he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.'

- Matthew 4:9-10

The devil...said to him, 'I will give you all their authority and splendor; it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to. If you worship me, it will all be yours.'

- Luke 4:5-8

Second, this mountain had a view of all the nations in the world, a view that was, by tradition, unique to Mt. Olympus, home of the most powerful gods in the entire world. No physical mountain could ever have had such a view, thus strongly suggesting that this particular mountain had no ordinary location, but was in reality the celestial Mt. Olympus itself. Third, the Devil managed took Jesus Christ from the desert to the mountain in a miraculous second of time and space. This suggests the Devil was a creature with vast supernatural powers, such as being able to instantly teleport a living Jew like Jesus even to the Heavenly heights of Mt. Olympus.

The devil led him up to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world.

- Luke 4:5

Fundamental Judeo/Christian Symbolism

In conclusion, the evidence strongly suggest that Jesus Christ visited a very unique kind of mountain which exhibited supernatural qualities, much like that of Mt. Olympus. No other mountain could have had such a view of all the nations. No other mountain could have been travelled to in a split second of time and no other mountain was known to have had that much power over the kingdoms of earth except Mt. Olympus. Thus, the likelihood that the mountain where the Devil tempted Jesus was, in fact, Mt. Olympus is quite high, given everything. It is also quite likely that the Devil, was Zeus/Jupiter himself, the king of the Greco-Roman gods and ruler of Mt. Olympus. Instead of accepting Zeus/Jupiter's continued rule over Him or Israel, Jesus Christ chose to worship the one, true God of the Jews and to die on the cross for his refusal.

Name of the LORD in Hebrew

Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve Him alone.'" Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him.

- Matthew 4:10-11

Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve Him only.’”

- Luke 4:8

One should also remember that the Jews during the time of Jesus were suffering severe oppression at the hands of Roman occupiers, whose gods were that of Mt. Olympus. Because of the current Roman occupation of Israel, which had already proven to be just as cruel and tyrannical as the Greek occupation during the Age of the Maccabees, Jesus Christ had very good reason to look upon Mt. Olympus, and the Greco-Roman gods who resided there, as both the physical enemy of Israel and the spiritual enemy of God.

May the LORD God bless you in the name of St. Judas Maccabaeus.

The Judeo-Christian, Part VII. The Working-Class Hands of the LORD God

Fear God and keep His Commandments for this is the whole duty of man.

- Ecclesiastes 12:13

Part V. The Working-Class Hands of the LORD God

In many ways, modern man seems to have overlooked many obvious, yet vitally important parts of the Bible, most especially the very first one or two pages. Indeed, one of the strangest aspects to the beginning of the Book of Genesis is how the author Moses first discusses God, Elohim in Hebrew, who goes about creating the Heavens and the Earth and all the living plants and animals by using words alone, but then changes the subject entirely and suddenly introduces a completely different entity known as the LORD God, called Adonai in Hebrew. This particular Divine being finds Himself in the dark void that existed before Creation where the water is rising up from the depths of the Abyss, perhaps threateningly. Almost immediately, the LORD God creates His own version of a man from clay, dirt, and water, by using His hands, just like a working-class craftsman would do, and endows the little creature with an immortal soul, calling him Adam. He then places His new creation in a garden on Earth, called Eden, which He has carefully cultivated and organized, once again just like a working-class male working for a landscape company that gets His hands dirty for a living, rather than some uppity, elitist sorcerer who can create with mere words alone.

Reading Scriptures closely enough, one notices that, except for the Tree of Life and the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, the other plants and trees in the garden are not really His personal creation. Obviously, the LORD must have taken them from the surrounding wilderness that God had already created out of nothing using only the power of His words. Later, like a talented sculptor, the LORD God once again uses His hands to create different animals from the pre-existing water, dirt and clay and then has the man Adam name these new creations separately, like an expert Zoology professor teaching his young graduate student how to classify new species.

He’s got the whole world in His hands

Unlike God who, in the beginning, created life from just words and without hands, the LORD God apparently uses His hands quite often and with skilled craftsmanship. Also, like a professional surgeon and match-maker, the LORD goes on to carefully remove a rib bone from Adam, stitches up the wound, and then creates a female companion for him named Eve. Put bluntly, the LORD God may not be an omnipotent Creator like God, but He is obviously very skilled at using His Hands in a variety of ways.

When I’m out walking, I strut my stuff yeah I’m so strung out. I’m high
as a kite I just might stop to check you out. Let me go on like I blister in
the sun. Let me go on Big Hands I know you’re the one.

- Blister in the Sun, by the Violent Femmes

Throughout the centuries, some Biblical scholars, starting with the Gnostics, have come to some very strange conclusions about God, who created everything using only his voice, and the LORD God, who sculpted, tended garden, and performed medical surgery using His own two hands to perform these tasks. Because of these innate differences, some have apparently decided that the LORD God is an insane impostor god, a Devil, who is keeping us from discovering the higher, one, true God that created all life through His words in just six days. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Indeed, the LORD God’s talented use of His hands is similar to the way mankind differs from any of the other animals. Put specifically, it is man alone that has learned to use his or her hands to manipulate objects with increasing precision in order to create various types of useful, material inventions. Reading Genesis carefully, the LORD God’s hand-made designs truly indicate He has been a master-craftsman from the very beginning of creation and that, ever since Adam, mankind has been kept busy as His various apprentices and assistant journeymen along the way.

As it clearly states in Genesis, God, called Elohim, does indeed create man in His own image, but does not bother to give any of them names or help them to survive the wild and feed themselves. In stark contrast, the LORD God, known simply as Adonai, creates only one man, calls him Adam, and endows him with an immortal soul that survives biological death, taking care to give him healthy produce from the Garden so that he never goes hungry. Then, like a good father, the LORD becomes worried that His single male creation might be lonely and need a suitable partner, almost as if the LORD God had also known personally what it was like to day-dream and long for female companionship and heterosexual love.

As everyone knows, the LORD God specifically commands Adam and Eve not to eat from the two special trees in the middle of His garden called Eden. Unfortunately, the wicked serpent almost immediately seduces them both into disobedience and wicked behavior, causing the LORD to become enraged, much like a cautious master-craftsman who finds that His apprentice, along with his new girl, has just managed to ruin and destroy everything.

Using the fossil records left from past ages, scientists now believe that huge reptiles called dinosaurs were the first life-forms before any mammals, including man, came into existence. Remember that serpents are also reptiles which are directly related to the dinosaurs. With all that in mind, there seems to be a distinct possibility that highly-advanced reptile humanoids from the distant past managed to develop dinosaurs on earth, but eventually proved incapable of making them intelligent and self-aware- like the LORD God made man. The Jewish Babylonian Talmud states the following:

The higher the position the greater is the fall, and this applies to the
serpent, who, not only was the chief of all animals, but walked upright
like man, and when it fell it sank into the reptile world.

- Genesis Rabba 19

In contrast, the LORD God’s hand-crafted, warm-blooded, mammalian creation known as mankind eventually succeeded, as history as shown, just as the cold-blooded serpent’s feeble attempts at evolution, which only created extremely stupid dinosaurs, failed miserably.

Ten Commandments

In truth, man’s slow, but steady progress out of the Neanderthal caves of yesteryear is mainly due to the LORD God’s continued love and attention for His creation. Basically, the God who creates life by words alone is still the unknowable, the unthinkable, while the highly-skilled craftsman known as the LORD God, who creates immortal souls with his own two hands, has probably been the true source of our intellectual and societal advancement for thousands of years. Obviously, the LORD God of the Holy Bible is a male with hands and feet just like mankind and has probably been married to a female goddess sometime before, but is now alone and preoccupied with caring for the men and women of planet Earth. Indeed, it is the LORD God, the Father, endowed with a distinct, individual personality, who has been the hidden intelligence guiding Jews, Christians, and Muslims towards a glorious and beautiful future that still lies ahead.

A Special-Effects Photo depicting God’s Hands

May the LORD God bless you in the name of the Judeo-Christian tradition..

The Judeo-Christian, Part IV. Quotes on God

Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.

- Ecclesiastes 12:13

Part IV. Quotes on God

When you have read the Bible, you will know it is the word of God, because you have found it the key to your own heart, your own happiness and your own duty.

- Woodrow T. Wilson (1856-1924) Twenty-eighth President of the USA.

I am my neighbor's Bible: he reads me when we meet, today he reads me in my house, tomorrow in the street; he may be relative or friend, or slight acquaintance be; he may not even know my name, yet he is reading me.

- Unknown Source

The Bible is God's chart for you to steer by, to keep you from the bottom of the sea, and to show you where the harbor is, and how to reach it without running on rocks or bars.

- Henry Ward Beecher (1813-1887) American politician.

When Thomas Paine showed Benjamin Franklin the manuscript of The Age of Reason, Franklin advised him not to publish it, saying, ''The world is bad enough with the Bible; what would it be without it?''

- Unknown Source

When you read God's Word, you must constantly be saying to yourself, ''It is talking to me, and about me.''

- Soren Kierkegaard (1813-1855) Danish philosopher and writer.

Sink the Bible to the bottom of the sea, and man's obligation to God would be unchanged. He would have the same path to tread, only his lamp and his guide would be gone; he would have the same voyage to make, only his compass and chart would be overboard.

- Henry Ward Beecher (1813-1887) American politician.

First I shake the whole [Apple] tree, that the ripest might fall. Then I climb the tree and shake each limb, and then each branch and then each twig, and then I look under each leaf.

- Martin Luther (1483-1546) German priest and scholar.

The English Bible: a book which, if everything else in our language should perish, would alone suffice to show the whole extent of its beauty and power.

- Thomas B. Macaulay (1800-1859) English politician, essayist and poet.

Whenever we read the obscene stories, the voluptuous debaucheries, the cruel and torturous executions, the unrelenting vindictiveness, with which more than half the Bible is filled, it would be more consistent that we called it the word of a demon than the Word of God. It is a history of wickedness that has served to corrupt and brutalize mankind.

- Thomas Paine (1737-1809) English intellectual.

The scripture in times of disputes is like an open town in times of war, which serves in differently the occasions of both parties.

- Alexander Pope (1688-1744) English poet and satirist.



There's a Bible on the shelf there. But I keep it next to Voltaire-poison and antidote.

- Bertrand Russell (1872-1970) British logician and philosopher.

For eighteen hundred years, though perchance I have no right to say it, the New Testament has been written; yet where is the legislator who has wisdom and practical talent enough to avail himself of the light which it sheds on the science of legislation?

-Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) American naturalist, poet and philosopher.

It ain't those parts of the Bible that I can't understand that bother me, it is the parts that I do understand.

- Mark Twain (1835-1910) U.S. humorist, writer, and lecturer.

The Christian's Bible is a drug store. Its contents remain the same, but the medical practice changes.

- Mark Twain (1835-1910) U.S. humorist, writer, and lecturer.

Those who spiritualize tell spiritual lies, because they lack spiritual eyes.

- Unknown Source

I have read many books, but the Bible reads me.

- Unknown Source



The pencil of the Holy Ghost hath labored more in describing the afflictions of Job than the felicities of Solomon.

- Francis Bacon (1561-1626) British statesman and philosopher.

Prosperity is the blessing of the Old Testament; adversity is the blessing of the New.

- Francis Bacon (1561-1626) British statesman and philosopher.

Both read the Bible day and night, but thou read black where I read white.

- William Blake (1757-1827) British poet and painter.

I call the book of Job, apart from all theories about it, one of the grandest things ever written with the pen.

- Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881) British historian and essayist.

Intense study of the Bible will keep any writer from being vulgar, in point of style.

- Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834) British poet, critic, and philosopher.

The study of the Bible will keep anyone from being vulgar in style.

- Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834) British poet, critic, and philosopher.

For this reason the Bible is a book of eternal and effective power; because, as long as the world lasts, no one will say: I comprehend it in the whole and understand it in the particular. Rather we must modestly say it on the whole it is venerable, and in the particular practical.

- Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe (1749-1832) German poet, novelist and dramatist.

England has two books, one which she has made and one which has made her: Shakespeare and the Bible.

- Victor Hugo (1802-1885) French poet, dramatist and novelist.

May the LORD God bless you in the name of the Judeo-Christian tradition.

The One, True God, Part I. God Quotes

YHVH is the LORD your God. You will have no other Gods but Him.

- The First Commandment

The One, True God, Part I. God Quotes

I could prove God statistically.

- George Gallop

I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect has intended us to forgo their use.

- Galileo Galilei

God is always on the side of the heaviest battalions.

- Voltaire (1694-1778) French writer and historian

God is a circle whose center is everywhere and circumference nowhere.

- Voltaire (1694-1778) French writer and historian.



If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent Him.

- Voltaire (1694-1778) French writer and historian.

God is not on the side of the big battalions, but on the side of those who shoot best.

- Voltaire (1694-1778) French writer and historian

Without God there is for mankind no purpose, no goal, no hope, only a wavering future, an eternal dread of every darkness.

- Jean Paul (1763-1825) German novelist and humorist.


May the LORD God bless you in the name of the Judeo-Christian Tradition