Viking /Pegan Chief Tore Hund and his successful resistance against Christian conversion

When Christians made their theological push into Europe, suppressing native religions and supplanting them with a foreign God, some pagans resisted by secretly practicing their old religion, while others resisted by meeting force with force. One such case of forceful resistance was by Tore Hund or Thorir the Hound, a powerful Viking born around 990 AD, during the first incursions of Christianity into Norway.

Today, many people around the world still resort to violence over religion, more than 1,000 years after Tore Hund killed King Olaf II or Saint Olaf, who reportedly made a deal to impose Christianity on Norway in exchange for the help of other European powers. Tore killed Olaf at the battle of Stiklestad. There, an army of farmers and laborers overwhelmed the king’s army.

To the modern Asatruar (worshipers of the old Norse gods), neo-pagans, and the pagans of his own time, Tore Hund is a hero. Tore is remembered not only for fiercely protecting his religion, but for being a leader of the common people, who bravely stood against the powerful nobility that throughout history has taken so much and given so little.

Paganism is considered a minor religion now in that it has only a few million followers as compared to hundreds of millions of worshipers in the major religions. That said, some writers have alluded to the parallels between Christian and pagan theology. Some say Christianity owes a lot to paganism, though these claims are mired in controversy.

According to the 13th century Heimskringla: The Chronicle of the Kings of Norway by Snorri Sturluson, Olaf went around forcing free people to convert to Christianity with violence and threats. For example, Struluson wrote of Olaf’s rampaging in 1023 in the region of Hordaland:

When the Thing was concluded the bondes [free men, many of whom were farmers and laborers] still remained assembled; and when the king observed this he went on board his ships, rowed in the night right across the water, landed in the country there, and began to plunder and burn. The day after the king's men rowed from one point of land to another, and over all the king ordered the habitations to be set on fire. Now when the bondes who were assembled saw what the king was doing, namely, plundering and burning, and saw the smoke and flame of their houses, they dispersed, and each hastened to his own home to see if he could find those he had left. As soon as there came a dispersion among the crowd, the one slipped away after the other, until the whole multitude was dissolved. Then the king rowed across the lake again, burning also on that side of the country. Now came the bondes to him begging for mercy, and offering to submit to him. He gave every man who came to him peace if he desired it, and restored to him his goods; and nobody refused to adopt Christianity. The king then had the people christened, and took hostages from the bondes.  He ordered churches to be built and consecrated, and placed teachers in them.

Norway’s resistance

Tore Hund is not the only Viking or Norseman to reject Christianity. In the article on Paganism in Barbara G. Walker’s The Women’s Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets, it says:

In the 10th century, King Haakon of Norway was fiercely opposed when he tried to institute Christianity. His people rebelled, burned the new Christian churches and forced Haakon to eat the horse-liver sacrifices and drink New Year toasts to Woden, Frey, Bragi and the totemic clan. Some rulers themselves rejected the new faith out of hand. Alcuin announced in the 8th century that there would never be any hope of Christianizing the Danes. Their king was ‘harder than a stone and wilder than any beast,” and would have none of Rome’s God.

People of the Asatru religion honor Tore Hund, Haakon and other Norsemen who resisted the Christianization of Scandinavia.

Christianization of Scandinavia

Scandinavia was Christianized by the 12th century, though the people still practiced some of the old ways and held some of the old beliefs. Many pagan gods, heroes, holy places, festivals and rites were subsumed into Christianity. Walker writes: “Though the old deities were re-defined as devils, nominal Christians continued to believe in them as firmly as they believed in Christ. … The Christian church had no holidays of its own; every feast in the Christian calendar was borrowed from the pagans, including Easter and Christmas.

“It could be said that Christianity and paganism co-exist even now, for the great part of Christian worship, sacraments and theology come from the pagan heritage.”

Featured image: The death of King Olaf at the hands of Tore Hund, Viking chief (Wikimedia Commons)

By Mark Miller

Christ himself said in His gospels and the Sermon on the Mount like

Matthew 5:44 "But I say to you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hurt you, and pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you. 45 That you may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for He maketh His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just, and on the unjust.

Or

Matthew 6:15 Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. 16 Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? 17 Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit: but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. 19 Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. 20 Wherefore by their fruits ye know them. 21 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.

John 15 King James Version (KJV)

15:1 I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. 2 Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit. 3 Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. 4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. 5 I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. 6 If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. 7 If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. 8 Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples. 9 As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love. 10 If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love. 11 These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full. 12 This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you. 13 Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. 14 Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.
15 Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you. 16 Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you. 17 These things I command you, that ye love one another. 18 If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you. 19 If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. 20 Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also.
21 But all these things will they do unto you for my name's sake, because they know not him that sent me. 22 If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin: but now they have no cloak for their sin. 23 He that hateth me hateth my Father also. 24 If I had not done among them the works which none other man did, they had not had sin: but now have they both seen and hated both me and my Father. 25 But this cometh to pass, that the word might be fulfilled that is written in their law, They hated me without a cause. 26 But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me: 27 And ye also shall bear witness, because ye have been with me from the beginning.

And:

Colossians 3 King James Version (KJV)

3:1 If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. 2 Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. 3 For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. 4 When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory. 5 Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry: 6 For which things' sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience: 7 In the which ye also walked some time, when ye lived in them. 8 But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth. 9 Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds; 10 And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him: 11 Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all. 12 Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering; 13 Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. 14 And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness. 15 And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful. 16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. 17 And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him.

Finally;

Philippians 2 King James Version (KJV)

2:1 If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies, 2 Fulfil ye my joy, that ye be likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. 3 Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves. 4 Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. 5 Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: 6 Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: 7 But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: 8 And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
9 Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: 10 That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; 11 And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

You claim to be devout follower of Jesus and yet you still say that so called Christians committed the atrocities you want to blame them for. What it comes down to is that by the example of Jesus and Paul's words here, that these so called people weren't obeying what Jesus Himself and His apostle Paul CLEARLY STATED followers of Jesus would do, what actions they should take, to show they are His true followers.

If you are really are a devout follower of Jesus then you would know this already. But as I quoted earlier, you will know them by their fruits. and your article is producing a fruit of division and causing others to hate Jesus. If you still say those that committed all this were still Christians then you are incorrect historically and have some type of agenda other then spreading the gospel of the good news of Jesus to a lost and dying world.

So, why would a supposed devout follower of Christ produce fruit that only would damage who He is among those who don't know him? Well the proof is in the pudding so to speak. Your no devout follower of Jesus, otherwise you would work to produce the good fruit He spoke of and be doing the great commission He commanded His followers to do in Matthew 28 and Mark 16.

How do you reconcile what you have written with the scriptural examples provided of Jesus Himself instructing on how true believers should act. Of course, you can't, but if you still want to claim to be follower of Jesus but don't obey what He commanded then your just like the people in your article you are trying so hard to convince how terrible people who claim to be Christians were.

And yet we use the version of the Bible that has over thirty thousand KNOWN errors of translation. 
scandinavian paganism and christianization by terrorism

Viking /Pegan Chief Tore Hund and his successful resistance against Christian conversion

When Christians made their theological push into Europe, suppressing native religions and supplanting them with a foreign God, some pagans resisted by secretly practicing their old religion, while others resisted by meeting force with force. One such case of forceful resistance was by Tore Hund or Thorir the Hound, a powerful Viking born around 990 AD, during the first incursions of Christianity into Norway.

Today, many people around the world still resort to violence over religion, more than 1,000 years after Tore Hund killed King Olaf II or Saint Olaf, who reportedly made a deal to impose Christianity on Norway in exchange for the help of other European powers. Tore killed Olaf at the battle of Stiklestad. There, an army of farmers and laborers overwhelmed the king’s army.

To the modern Asatruar (worshipers of the old Norse gods), neo-pagans, and the pagans of his own time, Tore Hund is a hero. Tore is remembered not only for fiercely protecting his religion, but for being a leader of the common people, who bravely stood against the powerful nobility that throughout history has taken so much and given so little.

Paganism is considered a minor religion now in that it has only a few million followers as compared to hundreds of millions of worshipers in the major religions. That said, some writers have alluded to the parallels between Christian and pagan theology. Some say Christianity owes a lot to paganism, though these claims are mired in controversy.

According to the 13th century Heimskringla: The Chronicle of the Kings of Norway by Snorri Sturluson, Olaf went around forcing free people to convert to Christianity with violence and threats. For example, Struluson wrote of Olaf’s rampaging in 1023 in the region of Hordaland:

When the Thing was concluded the bondes [free men, many of whom were farmers and laborers] still remained assembled; and when the king observed this he went on board his ships, rowed in the night right across the water, landed in the country there, and began to plunder and burn. The day after the king's men rowed from one point of land to another, and over all the king ordered the habitations to be set on fire. Now when the bondes who were assembled saw what the king was doing, namely, plundering and burning, and saw the smoke and flame of their houses, they dispersed, and each hastened to his own home to see if he could find those he had left. As soon as there came a dispersion among the crowd, the one slipped away after the other, until the whole multitude was dissolved. Then the king rowed across the lake again, burning also on that side of the country. Now came the bondes to him begging for mercy, and offering to submit to him. He gave every man who came to him peace if he desired it, and restored to him his goods; and nobody refused to adopt Christianity. The king then had the people christened, and took hostages from the bondes.  He ordered churches to be built and consecrated, and placed teachers in them.

Norway’s resistance

Tore Hund is not the only Viking or Norseman to reject Christianity. In the article on Paganism in Barbara G. Walker’s The Women’s Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets, it says:

In the 10th century, King Haakon of Norway was fiercely opposed when he tried to institute Christianity. His people rebelled, burned the new Christian churches and forced Haakon to eat the horse-liver sacrifices and drink New Year toasts to Woden, Frey, Bragi and the totemic clan. Some rulers themselves rejected the new faith out of hand. Alcuin announced in the 8th century that there would never be any hope of Christianizing the Danes. Their king was ‘harder than a stone and wilder than any beast,” and would have none of Rome’s God.

People of the Asatru religion honor Tore Hund, Haakon and other Norsemen who resisted the Christianization of Scandinavia.

Christianization of Scandinavia

Scandinavia was Christianized by the 12th century, though the people still practiced some of the old ways and held some of the old beliefs. Many pagan gods, heroes, holy places, festivals and rites were subsumed into Christianity. Walker writes: “Though the old deities were re-defined as devils, nominal Christians continued to believe in them as firmly as they believed in Christ. … The Christian church had no holidays of its own; every feast in the Christian calendar was borrowed from the pagans, including Easter and Christmas.

“It could be said that Christianity and paganism co-exist even now, for the great part of Christian worship, sacraments and theology come from the pagan heritage.”

Featured image: The death of King Olaf at the hands of Tore Hund, Viking chief (Wikimedia Commons)

By Mark Miller

Christ himself said in His gospels and the Sermon on the Mount like

Matthew 5:44 "But I say to you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hurt you, and pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you. 45 That you may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for He maketh His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just, and on the unjust.

Or

Matthew 6:15 Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. 16 Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? 17 Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit: but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. 19 Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. 20 Wherefore by their fruits ye know them. 21 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.

John 15 King James Version (KJV)

15:1 I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. 2 Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit. 3 Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. 4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. 5 I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. 6 If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. 7 If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. 8 Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples. 9 As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love. 10 If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love. 11 These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full. 12 This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you. 13 Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. 14 Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.
15 Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you. 16 Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you. 17 These things I command you, that ye love one another. 18 If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you. 19 If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. 20 Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also.
21 But all these things will they do unto you for my name's sake, because they know not him that sent me. 22 If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin: but now they have no cloak for their sin. 23 He that hateth me hateth my Father also. 24 If I had not done among them the works which none other man did, they had not had sin: but now have they both seen and hated both me and my Father. 25 But this cometh to pass, that the word might be fulfilled that is written in their law, They hated me without a cause. 26 But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me: 27 And ye also shall bear witness, because ye have been with me from the beginning.

And:

Colossians 3 King James Version (KJV)

3:1 If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. 2 Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. 3 For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. 4 When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory. 5 Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry: 6 For which things' sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience: 7 In the which ye also walked some time, when ye lived in them. 8 But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth. 9 Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds; 10 And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him: 11 Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all. 12 Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering; 13 Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. 14 And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness. 15 And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful. 16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. 17 And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him.

Finally;

Philippians 2 King James Version (KJV)

2:1 If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies, 2 Fulfil ye my joy, that ye be likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. 3 Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves. 4 Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. 5 Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: 6 Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: 7 But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: 8 And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
9 Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: 10 That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; 11 And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

You claim to be devout follower of Jesus and yet you still say that so called Christians committed the atrocities you want to blame them for. What it comes down to is that by the example of Jesus and Paul's words here, that these so called people weren't obeying what Jesus Himself and His apostle Paul CLEARLY STATED followers of Jesus would do, what actions they should take, to show they are His true followers.

If you are really are a devout follower of Jesus then you would know this already. But as I quoted earlier, you will know them by their fruits. and your article is producing a fruit of division and causing others to hate Jesus. If you still say those that committed all this were still Christians then you are incorrect historically and have some type of agenda other then spreading the gospel of the good news of Jesus to a lost and dying world.

So, why would a supposed devout follower of Christ produce fruit that only would damage who He is among those who don't know him? Well the proof is in the pudding so to speak. Your no devout follower of Jesus, otherwise you would work to produce the good fruit He spoke of and be doing the great commission He commanded His followers to do in Matthew 28 and Mark 16.

How do you reconcile what you have written with the scriptural examples provided of Jesus Himself instructing on how true believers should act. Of course, you can't, but if you still want to claim to be follower of Jesus but don't obey what He commanded then your just like the people in your article you are trying so hard to convince how terrible people who claim to be Christians were.

And yet we use the version of the Bible that has over thirty thousand KNOWN errors of translation. 
scandinavian paganism and christianization by terrorism

Real Jesus-Apollonius of Tyana. People worship wrong Jesus

Apollonius of Tyana

Born February 16, 2 AD in Tyana, Cappadoccia, Greece.

Original founder of true Essene Christianity, whose precepts originate in Buddhist India and China(Himalayas).

Replaced by Yeshai Beth Halachmee(pseudo-crucified Essene of 4 BC), Jehoshua Ben Pandira(the Jesus of 100 BC) and Christna(the avatar ) by the priests of Constantine at the Council of Nicea in 325 AD. The New Testament is a distorted account of his life and teachings.  He was the awe and wonder of his time - Apollonius of Tyana -the true Christ of the first century AD. Apolonius was born of wealthy parents in the Greek town of Tyana, Greece, and his birth was miraculously announced to his mother by an archangel. He was an attractive and precocious child and was sent to reside at the temple of Aescalupius in Tarsus at age twelve, where he was initiated by the priests and where he excelled in religious and philosophical learning and debate, and even performing healing miracles. At the age of sixteen he adopted the pythagorian philosophy and lifestyle of abstaining from animal food, wine, and women, living only on fruits and herbs, maintaining five years of silence, praying to the sun three times a day, dressing only in white linen(non-animal fabric), going barefoot, and never cutting his hair or beard. 

He believed in the immortality of the soul, in metempsychosis, and in a supreme deity ruling lesser deities. He also wrote books on astrology. Before starting his public mission he gave away his riches to his relatives with the aim of seeking only knowledge and wisdom. His mission began by going to Antioch where he taught certain disciples, as well as learning the mysteries of that city's temple, Apollo Daphne. He also traveled to India and Egypt, bringing back with him the doctrines of Krishna and Buddha, which then became the foundations of the Christian religion. As a Roman citizen, he travelled freely within the Roman empire acquiring the reputation of a social and political reformer. He was fearless and spoke out against the tyranny of Nero and Domititian for which he was jailed but later released. His most recounted incident was at the court before emperor Domitian, where he dissapeared into thin air before they could lay any kind of charge on him. Wherever he went he attracted large crowds and held them spellbound by his words and deeds. Kings, rulers, and common folk constantly sought him for advice and he gave freely. He travelled the world and always stood his ground and was regarded by many as a god in the flesh. He compiled the epistles, and retired to the isle of Patmos where he wrote the book of Revelation. Little is known about his death, but it is thought he lived past the the age of 100, and shortly thereafter ascended to the inner earth paradise. Temples and statues were built in his honor, and for the first three centuries AD he was regarded as a demi-god and saint. The popularity of Apollonius' teachings became a threat to the decaying Roman Empire, so in 325 AD, At the Council of Nicae, emperor Constantine and his bishops devised the New Christianity and New Testament which would turn attention away from Appolonius, to a Judean carpenter by the name of Jesus. All records of Apollonius and his Essene Christianity were destroyed and this meant burning the libraries, including the most famous one at Alexandria. The mobs who enforced the new changes met stiff resistance from the people, and some fifty million were eventually killed or martyred in the process.

Important changes in the biblical texts occurred ever since then, such as the removal of the doctrines of reincarnation, astrology, and vegetarianism; to be replaced by their opposites -a mortal soul, a hellfire for diviners, and permission for meat-eating and wine drinking.

Pagan demon. Here's the story of a meeting between a Pagan demon and the Pythagorean teacher-sage Apollonius of Tyana. Apollonius lived in the first century AD; after He died, He was worshiped as a God. This history about Him was written in the third century AD, from notes made by one of His disciples. Here we go...

Apollonius was with some people, discussing a point of sacred ritual, when he was interrupted by a young man who was, I'll be blunt, an asshole. Always shouting at the wrong time. Being licentious. You know the type. Anyhow, Apollonius is talking and the young guy butts in, real loud like, with a coarse voice. And right away Apollonius, who has this divine power about Him, sees it's not the young lad who's the asshole, it's a demon [= daimon].	Now while he [Apollonius] was discussing the question libations, there chanced to be present in his audience a young dandy who bore so evil a reputation for licentiousness, that his conduct had long been the subject of coarse street-corner songs....[T]he youth burst out into loud and coarse laughter, and quite drowned his voice. Then Apollonius looked up at him and said : "It is not yourself that perpetrates this insult, but the demon, who drives you on without your knowing it."
And sure enough, the kid did have a demon in him. And it was the demon that made him laugh, and cry, and sing and generally act crazy. Don't that beat all!	And in fact the youth was, without knowing it, possessed by a devil [daimon] ; for he would laugh at things that no one else laughed at, and then he would fall to weeping for no reason at all, and he would talk and sing to himself. Now most people thought that it was the boisterous humor of youth which led him into such excesses ; but he was really the mouthpiece of a devil, though it only seemed a drunken frolic in which on that occasion he was indulging. Now when Apollonius gazed on him, the ghost in him began to utter cries of fear and rage, such as one hears from people who are being branded or racked ; and the ghost swore that he would leave the young man alone and never take possession of any man again.
And as soon as Apollonius spotted him, the demon knew it, and started to cry out, and talk with Apollonius and bargain with Him about leaving the young man.
But Apollonius, he didn't need to bargain. He just commanded that daimon to LEAVE! And the demon left, performing a little miracle on the way.	But Apollonius addressed him with anger, as a master might a shifty, rascally, and shameless slave and so on, and he ordered him to quit the young man and show by a visible sign that he had done so. " I will throw down yonder statue," said the devil [daimon], and pointed to one of the images which were in the king's portico, for there it was that the scene took place. But when the statue began by moving gently, and then fell down, it would defy anyone to describe [page 392] the hubbub which arose thereat and the way they clapped their hands with wonder.
After which the young man turned out to be a swell fellow. I never saw it coming. How about you? And the man who Apollonius fixed up, demon wise, becomes His follower.	But the young man rubbed his eyes as if he had just woke up, and he looked towards the rays of the sun, and assumed a modest aspect, as all had their attention concentrated on him ; for he no longer showed himself licentious, nor did he stare madly about, but he had returned to his own self, as thoroughly as if he had been treated with drugs ; and he gave up his dainty dress and summery garments and the rest of his sybaritic way of life, and he fell in love with the austerity of philosophers, and donned their cloak, and stripping off his old self modeled his life in future upon that of Apollonius.
	[Philostratus, The Life of Apollonius of Tyana, 4.10 (217 AD), -- which you can find in: Conybeare, F. C. Philostratus I: The Life of Apollonius of Tyana, Books I - V (Loeb Classical Library #16) (2000), pg. 389- 91

Now here's a story about Jesus and a demon. Jesus lived in the first century AD; after He died, He was worshiped as a God. Whoever wrote this story didn't sign his name, and didn't say when he wrote it, so it's hard to be sure of its date. Our first evidence of this writing dates from about 150 AD, when it was offered up as part of a new sacred text—a new testament—by a gnostic heretic named Marcion. Here we go, from the Gospel of Luke...

So Jesus comes to town, and right away he meets this man who has demons inside him. The demons make the man go around with no clothes, and live out in the cemetery. They make him act crazy.	26 Then they arrived at the country of the Ger'asenes, which is opposite Galilee. 27 And as he [Jesus] stepped out on land, there met him a man from the city who had demons; for a long time he had worn no clothes, and he lived not in a house but among the tombs.
Right away Jesus, who had this divine power about Him, knew about the demons. And the demons, who had this divine power about them, knew He knew. And as soon as Apollonius Jesus spotted him them, the demons knew it, and started to cry out, and talk with Apollonius Jesus and bargain with Him about leaving the young man.	28 When he saw Jesus, he cried out and fell down before him, and said with a loud voice, "What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beseech you, do not torment me."
But Apollonius Jesus, He didn't need to bargain. He had already commanded those daimons to LEAVE! Chatting with demons. Bargaining.	29 For he had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. (For many a time it had seized him; he was kept under guard, and bound with chains and fetters, but he broke the bonds and was driven by the demon into the desert.) 30 Jesus then asked him, "What is your name?" And he said, "Legion"; for many demons had entered him. 31 And they begged him not to command them to depart into the abyss.
And the demons left, performing a little miracle on the way. After which the man turns out to be a swell fellow. I never saw it coming. How about you?	32 Now a large herd of swine was feeding there on the hillside; and they begged him to let them enter these. So he gave them leave. 33 Then the demons came out of the man and entered the swine, and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and were drowned. 34 When the herdsmen saw what had happened, they fled, and told it in the city and in the country. 35 Then people went out to see what had happened, and they came to Jesus, and found the man from whom the demons had gone, sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind; and they were afraid. 36 And those who had seen it told them how he who had been possessed with demons was healed. 37 Then all the people of the surrounding country of the Ger'asenes asked him to depart from them; for they were seized with great fear; so he got into the boat and returned.
And the man who Apollonius Jesus fixed up, demon wise, asks to become His follower.	38 The man from whom the demons had gone begged that he might be with him; but he sent him away, saying, 39 "Return to your home, and declare how much God has done for you." And he went away, proclaiming throughout the whole city how much Jesus had done for him.
	["Luke," the unknown author of the Gospel of Luke, 8:22-39, RSV]

Let's recap. You now know Pagans had demons. Pagan demons could live inside people, and make them crazy. Pagan demons could be spotted by divine men. Pagan demons could tell when they'd be spotted by a divine men. Pagan demons talked to divine men. Divine men commanded Pagan demons to leave the body of the people they inhabited. And the Pagan demons left. Performing a little miracle on the way out. You also know Pagans Christians had demons. Pagan Christian demons could live inside people, and make them crazy. Pagan Christian demons could be spotted by divine men. Pagan Christian demons could tell when they'd be spotted by a divine men. Pagan Christian demons talked to divine men. Divine men commanded Pagan Christian demons to leave the body of the people they inhabited. And the Pagan Christian demons left. Performing a little miracle on the way out. You also know putting a line through Pagan and writing "Christian" is very annoying. What's more, it's a mistake—another one of those times our ideas are way different from the ancient ideas. See, you and I think "Pagan" and "Christian" are different. I mean, totally different. Different Gods. Different theology. Different morality. Different everything. Them and Us. Now you're starting to see, it ain't so. In many many ways Christianity was not new, not unique. Christian ideas were Pagan ideas. And we're not talking simple, trivial ideas. We're talking ideas deep in the fabric of the bible, in the stories about who Jesus was and what he taught and did. Many biblical ideas are pagan ideas. Christian religion is not different from Pagan religion. Christianity is an ancient Pagan religion. Wow.

As demi-gods, demons were worshiped.

Apollonius of Tyana became divine, and was worshiped.

" And I," said Apollonius, " my good friend, understand all languages, though I never learnt a single one." The native of Ninevah was astonished at this answer, but the other replied: " You need not wonder at my knowing all human languages ; for, to tell you the truth, I also understand all the secrets of human silence." Thereupon the Assyrian worshipped him, when he heard this, and regarded him as a demon; and he stayed with him increasing in wisdom and committing to memory whatever he learnt. [Philostratus, The Life of Apollonius of Tyana, 4.10 (217 AD), -- which you can find in: Conybeare, F. C. Philostratus I: The Life of Apollonius of Tyana, Books I - V (Loeb Classical Library #16) (2000), pg. 53]

The first century AD godman Apollonius gave Asclepius' incubators hints on how to get the best results.   >>	Having purged the Ephesians of the plague, and having had enough of the people of Ionia, he [Apollonius] started for Hellas. Having made his way then to Pergamum, and being pleased with the temple of Asclepius, he gave hints to the supplicants of the god, what to do in order to obtain favourable dreams; and having healed many of them he came to the land of Ilium.
	[Philostratus, The Life of Apollonius of Tyana, 4.11 (2d century AD), -- which you can find in: Conybeare, F. C.. Philostratus I: The Life of Apollonius of Tyana, Books I - V (Loeb Classical Library #16) (2000), pg. 367]

Dream messages from Gods were so much a part of the ancients' world view, the practice was institutionalized. Wow.

Lot's of writers included short passages explaining dreams. Here's one from Philostratus:  >>

And more than this, as a faculty of divination by means of dreams, which is the divinest and most god- like of human faculties, the soul detects the truth all the more easily when it is not muddied by wine, but accepts the message unstained and scans it carefully. Anyhow, the explainers of dreams and visions, those whom the poets call interpreters of dreams, will never undertake to explain any vision to anyone without having first asked the time when it was seen. For if it was at dawn and in the sleep of morningtide, they calculate its meaning on the assumption that the soul is then in a condition to divine soundly and healthily, because by then it has cleansed itself of the stains of wine. But if the vision was seen in the first sleep or at midnight, when the soul is still immersed in the lees of wine and muddied thereby, they decline to make any suggestions, and they are wise.

[Philostratus, The Life of Apollonius of Tyana, 2.37 (2d century AD), -- which you can find in: Conybeare, F. C. Philostratus I:The Life of Apollonius of Tyana, Books I - V (Loeb Classical Library #16) (2000), pg. 215]

How Dreams Worked Dream analysis wise, most people weren't as fancy as Aristotle. For most writers, dreams were simply and obviously messages sent from a God. they'd mention that fact in passing, as needed to push the story along. Here's a smattering...

Here's Philostratus in his book about Apollonius.	1.23 And as he advanced into the Cissian country and was already close to Babylon, he was visited by a dream, and the god who revealed it to him fashioned its imagery as follows : there were fishes which had been cast up from the sea on to the land, and they were gasping, and uttering a lament almost human, and bewailing that they had quitted their element ; and they were begging a dolphin that was swimming past the shore to help them in their misery, just like human beings who are weeping in a foreign land. Apollonius was not in the least frightened by his dream, and proceeded to conjecture its meaning and drift ; but he was determined to give Damis [His disciple] a shock, for he found that he was the most nervous of men. So he related his vision to him, and feigned as if it foreboded evil. But Damis began to bellow as if he had seen the dream himself, and tried to dissuade Apollonius from going any further, "Lest," he said, "we also like the fishes get thrown out of our element and perish, and have to weep and wail in a foreign land. Nay, we may even be reduced to straits, and have to go down on our knees to some potentate or king, who will flout us as the dolphins did the fishes."
Dreams were messages from god...	Then Apollonius laughed and said: "You've not become a philosopher yet, if you are afraid of this sort of thing. But I will explain to you the real drift of the dream. For this land of Cissia is habited by the Eretrians, who were brought up here from Euboea by Darius five hundred years ago, and they are said to have been treated at their capture like the fishes that we saw in the dream; for they were netted in, so they say, and captured on and all. It would seem then that the gods are instructing me to visit them and tend their needs, supposing I can do anything for them. And perhaps also the souls of the Greeks whose lot was cast in this part of the world are enlisting my aid for their land. Let us then go on and diverge from the high road, and ask only about the well, hard by which their settlement is."
	[Philostratus, The Life of Apollonius of Tyana, 1.23 (2d century AD), -- which you can find in: Conybeare, F. C. Philostratus I: The Life of Apollonius of Tyana, Books I - V (Loeb Classical Library #16) (2000), pg. 67-9]

Philostratus explaining the miraculous birth of Apollonius.	Now he is said to have been born in a meadow, hard by which there has been now erected a sumptuous temple to him ; and let us not pass by the manner of his birth. For just as the hour of his birth was approaching, his mother was warned in a dream to walk out into the meadow and pluck the flowers; and in due course she came there and her maids attended to the flowers, scattering themselves over the meadow, while she fell asleep lying on the grass. Thereupon the swans who fed in the meadow set up a dance around her as she slept, and lifting their wings, as they are wont to do, cried out aloud all at once, for there was somewhat of a breeze blowing in the meadow. She then leaped up at the sound of their song and bore her child, for any [page 14] sudden fright is apt to bring on a premature delivery.
	But the people of the country say that just at the moment of the birth, a thunderbolt seemed about to fall to earth and then rose up into the air and disappeared aloft; and the gods thereby indicated, I think, the great distinction to which the sage was to attain, and hinted in advance how he should transcend all things upon earth and approach the gods, and signified all the things that he would achieve.
	[Philostratus, The Life of Apollonius of Tyana, 1.5 (2d century AD), -- which you can find in: Conybeare, F. C. Philostratus I:The Life of Apollonius of Tyana, Books I - V (Loeb Classical Library #16) (2000), pg. 13- 4]

Not al legends were old. In the 2d century Philostratus wrote down the "history" of the 1st century godman Apollonius. Philostratus said he got his stuff from the writing of one of Apollonius disciples, but over and over what you get is clearly legend. In this story the Persian king has dream letting him know Apollonius is an OK guy.        >>

When these tidings were brought to the king, he happened to be sacrificing in company with the Magi, for religious rites are performed under their supervision. And he called one of them and said "The dream is come true, which I narrated to you to-day when you visited me in my bed." Now the dream which the king had dreamed was as follows: he thought that he was Artaxerxes, the son of Xerxes, and that he had altered and assumed the latter's form; and he was very much afraid lest some change should come over the face of his affairs, for so he interpreted his change of appearance. But when he heard that it was a Hellene, and a wise man, that had come, he remembered about Themistocles of Athens, who had once come from Greece and had lived with Artaxerxes, and had not only derived great benefit from the king, but had conferred great benefit himself. So he held out his right hand and said: "Call him in, for it will make the best of beginnings, if he will join with me in my sacrifice and prayer."

Philostratus, The Life of Apollonius of Tyana, 1.29 (2d century AD), -- which you can find in: Conybeare, F. C. Philostratus I: The Life of Apollonius of Tyana, Books I - V (Loeb Classical Library #16) (2000), pg. 85

In this story, Philostratus explains why Apollonius dreams are more often true: Apollonius sleeping in animal-free linen.         >>

8.5 Nor even is my mode of dress protected from their calumnies, for the accuser is ready to steal even that off my back, because it has such vast value for wizards. And yet apart from my contention about the use of living animals and lifeless things, according as he uses one or the other of which I regard a man as impure or pure, in what way is linen better than wool ? Was not the latter taken from the back of the gentlest of animals, of a creature beloved of the gods, who do not disdain themselves to be shepherds, and, by Zeus, once held the fleece to be worthy of a golden form, if it was really a god that did so, and if it be not a mere story ? On the other hand linen is grown and sown anywhere, and there is no talk of gold in connection with it. Nevertheless, because it is not plucked from the back of a living animal, the Indians regard it as pure, and so do the Egyptians, and I myself and Pythagoras on this account have adopted it as our garb when we are discoursing or praying or offering sacrifice. And it is a pure substance under which to sleep of a night, for to those who live as I do dreams bring the truest of their revelations.

[Philostratus, The Life of Apollonius of Tyana,8.5(2d century AD), -- which you can find in: Conybeare, F. C. Philostratus I: The Life of Apollonius of Tyana, Books I - V (Loeb Classical Library #16) (2000), pg. 307]

Apollonius of Tyana cures the lame, the blind, the paralysed.

3.39 There also arrived a man who was lame. He was already thirty years old and was a keen hunter of lions ; but a lion had sprung upon him and dislocated his hip so that he limped with one leg. However when they massaged with their hands his hip, the youth immediately recovered his upright gait. And another man had had his eyes put out, and he went away having recovered the sight of both of them. [page 318] Yet another man had his hand paralysed, but left their presence in full poscession of the limb. And a certain woman had suffered in labour already seven times, but was healed in the following way through the intercession of her husband. He bade the man, of whenever his wife should be about to bring forth her next child, to enter her chamber carrying in his bosom a live hare ; then he was to walk once round her and at the same moment to release the hare; for that the womb would be extruded together with the fetus, unless the hare was at once driven out. [Philostratus, The Life of Apollonius of Tyana, 3.39 (217 AD),—which you can find in: Conybeare, F. C.. Philostratus I: The Life of Apollonius of Tyana, Books I - V (Loeb Classical Library #16) (2000), pg. 317- 8]

Apollonius of Tyana cures demon posession The nature of the demon described.

THIS discussion was interrupted by the appearance among the sages of the messenger bringing in certain Indians who were in want of succour. And he brought forward a poor woman who interceded in behalf of her child, who was, she said, a boy of sixteen years of age, but had been for two years possessed by a devil. Now the character of the devil was that of a mocker and a liar. Here one of the sages asked, why she said this, and she replied : "This child of mine is extremely good-looking, and therefore the devil is amorous of him and will not allow him to retain his reason, nor will he permit him to go to school, or to learn archery, nor even to remain at home, but drives him out into desert places. And the boy does not even retain his own voice, but speaks in a deep hollow tone, as men do ; and he looks at you with other eyes rather than wit11 his own. As for myself I weep over all this, and I tear my cheeks, and I rebuke my son so far as I well may ; but he does not know me. And I made up my mind to repair hither, indeed I planned to do so a year ago ; only the demon discovered himself, using my child as a mask, and what he told me was this, that he was the ghost of a man, who fell long ago in battle, but that at death he was passionately [page 316] attached to his wife. Now he had been dead for only three days when his wife insulted their union by marrying another man, and the consequence was that he had come to detest the love of women, and had transferred himself wholly into this boy. But he promised, if I would only not denounce him to yourselves, to endow the child with many noble blessings As for myself, I was influenced by these promises; but he has put me off and off' for such a long time now, that he has got sole control of my household, yet has no honest or true intentions." Here the sage asked afresh, if the boy was at hand ; and she said not, for, although she had done all she could to get him to come with her, the demon had threatened her with steep places and precipices and declared that he would kill her son, "in case," she added, " I haled him hither for trial." "Take courage," said the sage, '' for he will not slay him when he has read this." And so saying he drew a letter out of his bosom and gave it to the woman ; and the letter, it appears, was addressed to the ghost and contained threats of an alarming kind. [Philostratus, The Life of Apollonius of Tyana, 3.38 (217 AD),—which you can find in: Conybeare, F. C.. Philostratus I: The Life of Apollonius of Tyana, Books I - V (Loeb Classical Library #16) (2000), pg. 315- 6] Add caption

Good Books for this section

The Life of Apollonius of Tyana by Philostratus (2d or 3d century AD) translated by Christopher Jones

What you'll find: Written by historian Philostratus in the late 2d or early 3d century, supposedly using notes written by Apollonius' own disciples Apollonius was a 1st century Pythagorean sage who gathered disciples, taught wisdom, cast out demons, healed the sick, raised the dead, and other familiar sounding stuff. After his death he was worshiped as a God.