Turn of Events and Spiritual Causality Part 8

Turn of events and Spiritual causality according to Daheshist concepts.
Excessive deviance by the Church of Rome brought about the great Divine wrath.
Excerpts taken from an article published in Dahesh Voice magazine, Vol. 12, No. 3, 2006-2007.

By: Dr. Ghazi Brax

I have showed previously the consequences of the Divine disobedience (committed by Adam and Eve) manifested in the turn of events that acted on their descendants, the descendants of Noah, and all subsequent Prophets leading up to the destruction of Jerusalem and the fall of the Hebrew culture beginning in the 7th century before Christ. Divine Guidance did not disappear from Earth, rather its Sayyals transferred in parallel paths during the same century to India, China, and Greece. Divine Guidance manifested itself in India through wise men that produced the “Upanishad,” and then the “Bhagavadgita.” Then it appeared again in the teachings of Mahavira and Buddha, however, the Brahmans fought against the teachings of Buddha because they called for the abolishment of the Caste System. In China, Lao-tzu and Confucius, two great Spiritual Guides appeared and their teachings were accepted by the millions despite fierce resistance. Likewise, in Greece many wise men and guides appeared, where Pythagoras and Socrates were the most prominent. Pythagoras was persecuted and Socrates was sentenced to death and since then the golden era of Greece was lost. However, the teachings of Socrates were immortalized through the writings of Plato, his disciple, and their influence is felt even to this day. Four hundred years later, Lord Christ appeared in Palestine and was persecuted by the Jews. The consequences of his persecution resulted in their Diaspora, the destruction of their country, and the initial spread of Christianity and its Spiritual values in the Roman world. However, Christians—organizations and believers—had deviated from the teachings of their Master and instead, they were lured by mundane values and desires that brought about suppression of freedoms.

Arianism, whose followers believed in the oneness of God, could have become the great church known as the “Roman Catholic Church.” Despite its opposition for over half a century to the concept of Trinity and almost succeeded, however, Spiritual causes must yield a certain outcome as mandated by the Divine Will and as a result, Arianism failed. The Christians of Rome who followed the path of Constantine—in harmonizing religion with mundane living by adhering to the deviant principles of the Council of Nicea—were excessive in their deviation from the Spiritual values of Christ and most of them were lured by the temptations of the world and merited to harvest what they had sown. In this fashion, the Spiritual forces of civilization abandoned the Christian world at a time when the Christians abandoned the teachings of the Lord of Glory. During this abandonment period that lasted about twelve centuries beginning from the 4th century, Christian sects would divide Christianity through turmoil and uprising and serious religious quarrels and fights would ensue in a very ugly way. The popes were gradually transforming their Spiritual authority to a mundane political authority.

The military-political papacy

The kingdom of Christ is Spiritual and absolutely not political. Jesus affirmed this truth when he stood before Pilate Pontius, the Roman procurator that presided over his trial, and said: “My kingdom does not belong to this world; if my kingdom belonged to this world, my followers would fight to keep me from being handed over to the Jewish authorities. No, my kingdom does not belong here!” (John 18:36) In another situation the Pharisees asked him: ““Tell us, then, what do you think? Is it against our Law to pay taxes to the Roman Emperor, or not?” Jesus, however, was aware of their evil plan, and so he said, “You hypocrites! Why are you trying to trap me? Show me the coin for paying the tax!” They brought him the coin, and he asked them, “Whose face and name are these?” “The Emperor’s,” they answered. So Jesus said to them, “Well, then, pay to the Emperor what belongs to the Emperor, and pay to God what belongs to God.”” (Matthew 22:17-22) In saying so, Jesus made a clear separation between religious authority and mundane laws, yet through the turn of events, the attitude of the Roman Church was the exact opposite. In the year AD 554, the Emperor Justinian I acknowledged the temporal (political) papal authority that soon transformed the Spiritual kingdom of Christ to an earthly kingdom, where the pope appeared to people more like a political leader than a Spiritual shepherd. At the beginning of the 7th century, pope Gregory I (AD 590-604) had placed the foundation for a papal state with vast lands and people to rule over spiritually and politically.

The worldly papal greed was unbound and in AD 756, pope Stephen II (AD 752-757) expanded the geographical size of the papal nation and solidified its final political structure. With time, the deviation of the religious-political state had increased and so did their meddling in European and international affairs and gradually replacing the status the Roman Empire held on the international stage. In AD 849, pope Leo IV (AD 847-855) had constructed a significant fleet in order to use it in fighting his enemies. In this manner, they reversed the teachings of Lord Christ when he said: “Happy are those who work for peace; God will call them his children!” (Matthew 5:9) And “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your friends, hate your enemies.’ But now I tell you: love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may become the sons of your Father in heaven.” (Matthew 5:43-45) They also made alliances with feudal lords, plotted conspiracies, and incited uprisings and turmoil within Christian nations. They did not pay any consideration to virtue or wisdom in selecting appointees, such as the case with pope John XII (AD 955-963), who was appointed pope when he was 16 years of age, indulged in worldly temptations, preoccupied himself with politics, instigated turmoil, and declared wars. Likewise, pope Benedict IX (AD 1032-1046) became pope at 15 years of age, the son of Alberic III, Count of Tusculum, and the nephew of Pope Benedict VIII (AD 1012–1024) and exhibited a conduct similar to that of John XII.

Pope Urban II (AD 1088-1099) interfered in the affairs of Spain, France, and England through the creation of alliances or feuds with their respective kings. He orchestrated the Crusades under the guise of religious faith and the liberation of the Holy Land, while historically, the true reasons behind the Crusades were greed in the fortunes and properties of others and the fighting against, not only the Muslims, but also the Jews and Christians who are not European Catholics. Paul Johnson in his famous book “History of Christianity,” says: “The Crusaders learned from the beginning to hate the Byzantines as much as they hate the Muslims. In AD 1204 they attacked Constantinople and occupied it ‘for the sake of God, the Pope and the Empire.’ They tore the paintings hanging in the Aya Sofia Cathedral and destroyed the iconic barrier [that separates the altar from the church hall] piece by piece and placed it in their pockets; they placed a wanton woman in the office of the archbishop singing lewd songs; they trampled on icons and Holy Books; they raped the nuns; and drank the wine prepared for the administration of the Eucharist at the altar.”

Pope Gregory IX (AD 1227-1241) forced King Frederick to launch a new Crusade and excommunicated him because Frederick did not immediately obey his order. He then reversed the excommunication once Frederick returned to him the lands he conquered, but later on excommunicated him anew. According to Paul Johnson: “In AD 1365, the last of the Crusades was launched with no goal in mind other than that of ransacking Alexandria, a city of majority Christian population. So they killed many Christians, some Jews, and many Muslims. They even ransacked the homes and stores of Latin traders.” Also, pope Sixtus V (AD 1585-1590) granted letters of indulgence for nine years to any French citizen who revolts against King Henry IV despite the protestant awakening against the letters of indulgence. He also paid annual large sums of money from the church treasury to king Philip II of Spain so that he would help him in his wars against England. In this manner, they ignited wars and committed massacres by covering their own personal, political, and economic interests with a mask.

Homicidal popes and their disgraceful conduct

Lord Christ was the lord of Spiritual Glory and not of the mundane. Money did not tempt him; the throne of earth did not attract him; and desires of the body did not allure him. In his life, he was modest, celibate, and ascetic. From his commandments we find: “Do not store up riches for yourselves here on earth, where moths and rust destroy, and robbers break in and steal. Instead, store up riches for yourselves in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and robbers cannot break in and steal. For your heart will always be where your riches are.” (Matthew 6:19-21) And “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the first and love the second, or he will be devoted to the first and despise the second. You cannot serve God and money.” (Matthew 6:24)

The conduct of many of the popes along with their clergy assistants was scandalous and disgraceful. Many resorted to murder in order to secure church positions that can be used to fulfill their desire for power, prestige, and wealth. They would commit horrible oppressions and shameful acts in the name of Christ. We mention here as an example pope Stephen VII (AD 896-897), who ordered the body of his enemy pope Formosus (AD 891-896) to be exhumed; placed it on trial in what is called a “corpse assembly;” cut out some fingers from the corpse as retribution; and then ordered the disposition of the corpse in a public cemetery for foreigners, where the frightened public picked up the corpse and thrown it into the Tiber river on January 897. The supporters of Formosus arrested Stephen VII, placed him in jail, and strangled him. Leo V (AD 903) became pope for 2 months and then was arrested by a priest called Christopher who jailed him and became pope in his place (AD 903-904). Concurrently, the supporters of Stephen VII elected Sergius III (AD 904-911) as an opposing pope. Sergius III arrested Christopher and ordered his killing along with Leo V, Christopher’s victim, in the same prison.

Throughout this entire era, Theodora, the wife of Theophylactus, the leader of the Roman aristocracy, along with her two wanton daughters, Theodora and Marozia, were controlling the individuals occupying the papal throne. Of those unlucky popes were John X (AD 914-928) and Stephen VIII (AD 929-931) who were jailed and then ordered by Theodora to be killed due to a quarrel between her and them. Upon the death of Stephen VII, she placed her son, John XI (AD 931-936) as pope. When Theophylactus died, she tried to place her new lover Hugh as emperor, assisted by her pope-son. Theodora’s other son Alberic II revolted against his mother and placed her in jail along with his brother John XI and then killed them both. Pope Boniface VII (AD 984-985) took over the papacy after he had pope John XIV (AD 983-984) arrested and starved him to death. However, Boniface VII was soon arrested, jailed, killed, and his body dragged in the streets of Rome.

During the papacy of Sixtus IV (AD 1471-1484) the Roman Church transformed into a horrible materialistic establishment run by cardinals related to the pope and their only preoccupation was the plotting of conspiracies, instigating wars, occupation of cities and territories in order to increase their holdings, and wasting church money on personal purposes. The pope’s nephew, cardinal Pierre Riario died from exhaustion due to excessive sexual indulgence and the conduct of his brother, Rafael Riaro, was worse. The pope, so that he can continue to cover the extravagant expenses of his family, raised the price on the sin indulgence bonds and the fees for church positions. The suffering of the people form the corruption and the oppression of the papal state is reflected in the writings of Stefano Infessura, the secretary of the Roman Senate and contemporaneous to Sixtus IV, when he said: “When he [Sixtus IV] died, it was a happy day, where God Almighty manifested his power to rescue the Christian people from the wrongdoings of this corrupt and oppressive ruler who had no fear of God in his heart and devoid of any notion to care for the Christians, and possessed no mercy or love. He was a slave to his promiscuity, greed, lavish spending, and lowly desires.”

Pope Innocent VIII (AD 1484-1492) fathered two sons born out of wedlock and bestowed the cardinalship on his nephew, who is also born out of wedlock. Innocent VIII cared only for his self-interest and the financial interest of his family and the Vatican drowned into a sea of prostitution and decadence. He proclaimed that anyone who kills a heretic will inherit the property of the deceased and will also receive an absolution from sins. The clergy and the rulers aided him in his oppression.

Rodrigo Borgia who became Pope Alexander VI (AD 1492-1503) continued the decadence of his predecessor as well as the depletion of the church treasury in order to cover the entertainment expenses incurred by his family. He conspired against others and annexed territories and assigned them to his sons. He also burned alive the Dominican monk Savonarola (AD 1452-1498) because he was truthful in calling people to repent and stay away from a life of decadence that was excessive in the papal family and church authority. Along with Savonarola he burnt alive the two Dominican monks Sylvester and Domenico.

Pope Julius II (AD 1503-1513), also known as “the horrible,” whose preoccupation was with wars; and pope Leo X (AD 1513-1521), who sold more of the fictitious sin absolution bonds, both deceived the naïve people and collected from them millions in currency in order to build for themselves lavish tombs, decorate their palaces and churches, and to pay for their entertainment.

The infernal Inquisition

From the sayings of Jesus Christ: “But I say to you that if you are angry with a brother or sister, you will be liable to judgment; and if you insult a brother or a sister, you will be liable to the council; and if you say, ‘you fool,’ you will be liable to the hell of fire.” (Matthew 5: 22) And “Do not judge others, so that God will not judge you…” (Matthew 7:1) Nonetheless, the popes of the middle ages had setup the Inquisition that had nothing in common with legal inquisitions except for the name and was used by them, the terrorist bishops and clergy, and their supporters of political authority as instruments to get rid of their religious and political foes who would disagree with them in interpreting the Holy Book and to take over their properties. Initially, these inquisitions were setup after the Council of Nicea (AD 325) to go after the “heretics” who deviated from the Roman Catholic dogma. However, it was modified to include: the Jews and Muslims in Spain, those accused of practicing “magic” (alleged); and the thinkers and politicians considered to be foes in every region under the papal influence.

As to the proceedings employed by the inquisitions, they were horrible tragedies and a great farce. The Inquisitor bishop or the local official had absolute power to accuse people. He would accept the testimony of criminals (thieves, killers, perjurers…etc.) and even so, the accused was not allowed to face his accusers or to know their names. In addition to this, lawyers, in general, were forbidden from assisting the accused. The accused were subjected to the harshest kinds of torture in order to admit their guilt and when they do, they were not spared. Some of the torture methods used were: excessive lashing; pressing down on the arms and legs until the bones are crushed; lifting the accused with a crane and then releasing them to crash; searing the accused with burning coal…etc.; as well as forced fasting, sleep deprivation, and constantly be shackled and for periods that may extend to several years.

As to the sentencing, it was either burning the accused alive or life in prison—provided that the accused doesn’t die from torture. All of his properties would be confiscated and his family would be deprived from any part of it. What they called “the Holy Office,” used to exhume corpses of individuals accused of heresy that died before standing trial by an Inquisitor, would anchor the body with nails and would be dragged in the streets before burning it.

In the beginning of the 7th century, the Catholic Authorities launched the real persecutions of Christians who refused to overlook the scandals and improprieties taking place inside papal palaces along with those who refused to abide by the religious and political orders of the papacy. However the horrible Inquisition emerged in the late 12th century. In the Council of Latran (AD 1179), pope Alexander III decreed that “heretics” must be quelled by the use of force, confiscating their properties, and enslaving them. On November 4th, 1184, Pope Lucius III enacted a constitution in the Council of Verona that laid the foundation for the diocesan Inquisition. The papal authorities also employed many organizations made up of priests in monastic orders to assist in their effort to include Dominican and Franciscan.

In the 12th and 13th centuries, many groups emerged in several regions of Europe with the belief that the material world is evil and that man must free himself from the constrains of materialism in order to regain his good nature and to reunite with God. They had noticed that the Roman Church had deviated from the goals of Christ, so they became ascetic, refrained from sexual intercourse, organized themselves, and setup their own episcopates. The Cathari were the most prominent and were the early victims of the “Inquisition,” where in the period of AD 1233-1278, thousands were burned or buried alive in Europe—especially in France, Italy, and Germany. The horrible massacres continued and the worst one took place in France during the reign of king Philippe Le Bel, when he lined up on August 24, 1307, members of the society “Les Chevaliers du Temple” in all French territories and burned them alive after many of them died after being tortured during imprisonment. Likewise, during the reign of François I, he killed in AD 1545 thousands of Vaudois Christians in the southern part of France. Nonetheless, the most notorious crimes of the Inquisition took place in Spain—especially during the era of the Dominican Grand Inquisitor Torquemada, who killed two thousand individuals within a period of 14 years (AD 1484-1498). The Catholic Inquisition continued to send papal foes to be burned alive until the 19th century.

The papacy and its institutions did not only persecute the general public, but also persecuted reformers, thinkers, and scientists, thereby revealing itself to be against every political or social reform, intellectual liberation, or scientific advancement. From the scientists that the papacy confronted were: Nicolaus Copernicus (AD 1473-1543), a Polish astronomer who proved that the planets rotate along their axis and around the sun, so the papacy declared his theory invalid and against religious truths. Galileo Galilei (AD 1564-1642), an Italian scientist, mathematician, and astronomer, who was forced in his 70’s to kneel down in front of a Catholic Inquisition and recant his confirmation of the Copernican theory in order to escape death by burning alive. He did what they forced him to do while saying “E pur si muove” (but [earth] rotates despite of all this). He spent the rest of his life under house arrest.

Likewise, Giordano Bruno (AD 1548-1600), the Italian philosopher, was burned alive in AD 1600 after being accused of heresy. Also LucilioVanini (aka Giulio Cesare, AD 1585-1619), another Italian philosopher was also burned alive in AD 1619 after being accused of so called sorcery and atheism. The papacy had initially published in AD 1557 “Index Librorum Prohibitorum” meaning “Index of Prohibited Books.” The list was expanded in AD 1564. Then the “warning council” of the papacy abolished every book that they didn’t like from AD 1571 to 1917 and then the task was transferred to what is called the “Holy Office.” The number of victims of the Inquisition was astronomical. According to the testimony of Juan Antonio Llorente, who was the general secretary of the “Holy Office” in Madrid during the French Revolution (AD 1789-1791), the number of individuals killed in Spain alone was 350,000 and of those 31,912 were burned alive. As to the women accused of witchcraft there were 300,000 and out of those 200,000 were in Germany.

Refutation of the papal claims of being successors to the Apostle Peter

After the Council of Nicea, the popes claimed being successors to the Apostle Peter and effectively being the successors to Christ. They based their claim on what the Lord of Glory had told the Apostle Peter: “And so I tell you, Peter (Gk Petros): you are a rock (Gk Petra, Fr Pierre), and on this rock I will build my church (i.e. assembly), and not even death will ever be able to overcome it. I will give you the keys of the Kingdom of heaven; what you prohibit on earth will be prohibited in heaven, and what you permit on earth will be permitted in heaven.” (Matthew 16:18-19) However, the Daheshist stance, which is based on revelation, refutes this claim of succession and provides a special meaning to the word “rock” that Lord Christ used and elaborating on it here is beyond the scope of this exposé.

First, Christ did not address Peter, the man, but rather addressed the lofty Sayyal in him. The proof of this can be found in the New Testament when Christ announced to his Disciples that he will be persecuted and tortured: “Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. “God forbid it, Lord!” he said. “That must never happen to you!” Jesus turned around and said to Peter, “Get away from me, Satan! You are an obstacle in my way, because these thoughts of yours don’t come from God, but from man.” (Matthew 16:22-23) The historical fact confirmed this, for Peter denied knowing Christ three times. From what the founder of Daheshism had confirmed to me, had Peter been brave and confirmed his knowledge of Christ and testified on his behalf, the course of the trial would have changed.

As to the forgiveness of sins, it is not theoretical and can be confirmed through a miraculous healing of a sickness—a consequence of past sins that the sick individual had committed in this life or a prior life—a gift that Christ did not restrict to the Apostle Peter. According to Daheshist ideology, a Lofty Personality of Christ appeared to the Disciples after it had been crucified, because death has no dominion over it. “It was late that Sunday evening, and the disciples were gathered together behind locked doors, because they were afraid of the Jewish authorities. Then Jesus came and stood among them. “Peace be with you,” he said. After saying this, he showed them his hands and his side. The disciples were filled with joy at seeing the Lord. Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father sent me, so I send you.” Then he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive people’s sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.” (John 20:19-23) This affirms that the Holy Spirit is the one capable of forgiving sins through miracles of healing, just as Christ did and not through popes, priests, or any other man. Despite this, no stories were told that any one of them performed a single miracle except for Peter, who was given by Christ a Spiritual power—that Daheshists know its essence—and the Apostle Paul who was secretly accompanied by Jesus, who would perform the miracles and the people would attribute them to Paul.

Second, on another occasion mentioned previously, Christ addressed his disciples saying: “If anyone wants to come with me, he must forget himself, carry his cross, and follow me. For whoever wants to save his own life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. Will a person gain anything if he wins the whole world but loses his life?” (Matthew 16:24-26) If we examine the conduct of popes during the middle ages, we would find most of them to be in exact contradiction to what Christ wanted, for they plotted against each other, committed crimes, instigated wars, and immersed themselves in indulgences in order to gain the world and its temptations and to amass fortunes. What kind of humility and self-abnegation can be found in such conduct?

Third, how could the popes claim the right to be successors to the Apostle Peter when he did not claim the right to preside over the Christian assemblies or legislature and he did not assign a successor? The Apostle Paul remained independent in his conduct and in spreading Christian teachings and the establishment of churches (assemblies) in Rome and other areas. In his Epistle to the Galatians, Paul publicly rebuked Peter for limiting the preaching of the gospel to the Jews without extending it to the Romans—as Paul did. (Galatians 2:11-14) Most Christian historians agree on this issue—even the Catholic ones.

Fourth, during the first three centuries, there wasn’t a single clergy recognized to be the sole head of the church, for there was some sort of an autonomy during the first two centuries and in the third century, a power struggle arose. As to how and why the Church of Rome and then the Church of Constantinople (after it had become the capital of the Roman Empire) controlled all other churches, the reasons are mostly political, as well as due to the numerous martyrs that died in the capital of the empire.

The horrific Divine retribution

After the Council of Nicea, the popes declared themselves successors not only to the Apostle Peter, but also to Lord Christ himself and to God Almighty. With the passing of years, they had dreamt of intermixing religious and political authorities, thus bringing the great Roman Empire under their control. However, they did not anticipate a horrific retribution to be in their fate—that they had forged with their mundane conduct and bodily desires. In AD 395, Theodosius died after he had declared Christian Catholicism to be the official religion of the country in AD 380 and prohibited and quelled all others. In doing so, the political, moral, and religious deviant version of Christianity triumphed and as a result, Rome became a prime target for invasion and destruction. God punished Rome by turning on her the barbarians, who had converted to the Arianism version of Christianity that calls for the oneness of God. In AD 410, the western Goths occupied Rome. They would not have entered Rome had Rome not merited Divine retribution—a nation that was setup to fall to invaders due to: the moral weakness of its rulers and people; frail economy; policies of disarray; and desperation that infiltrated into the psyche of its inhabitants. Many waves of barbarian invaders followed the Goths and occupied many of the cities under Roman control in the east and west. The fiercest incursion was that of the Hun in the middle of the fifth century under the leadership of Attila, aka “the wrath of God.”

After the death of Theodosius, the Roman Empire was reduced to the eastern part known as the Byzantine Empire. Soon after, Byzantium followed the path of Rome in religious subdivisions and moral corruption, however, its demise was slower, for the Will of God decreed its gradual demise and to cutoff its parts little by little. Then the second Divine blow took place two years after the death of the Arab Prophet [Muhammad] when the Islamic Arab armies marched north to occupy a large portion of the Byzantine Empire in AD 638—to include Syria and its city, Damascus, and Palestine and its city, Jerusalem. In AD 642, they occupied Persia, invaded Egypt and occupied Alexandria, where the Coptic Christians forged an alliance with the Arabs against the Greek Catholic Church. In AD 647, they advanced along the Mediterranean coast to Libya; in AD 649 to Cyprus and so on… In this fashion, the Byzantine Empire, with its church authority had lost all of its cities along the Mediterranean. However, the waves of Arabic conquests did not stop there, rather they advanced to Armenia in AD 653 and by AD 683 they reached the Atlantic Ocean in North Africa. In AD 711, they conquered Spain and established the Moorish province in Cordoba in AD 756. In addition to this, they conquered many lands in Asia that the Roman Empire during its peak did not conquer.

Divine Justice took its course and fiercely exacted retribution from the Byzantine Christians and their religious leaders because they had deviated from the teachings of the Lord of Glory, whom they claimed to be his successors. They had deviated in their conduct from the Spiritual values as well as adhered to the new added teachings that contradict the oneness of God. Just as Divine Justice permitted the Arian barbarians, who believed in the oneness of God, to control a significant portion of the Roman Empire, it also allowed the Muslims, who also believed in the oneness of God, to control a significant portion of the Byzantine Empire. Then in AD 1054, the great rift between the two churches of the east and west took place as a result of a disagreement over faith-based matters and priesthood practices. Both churches excommunicated each other on the basis of deviance. The rift and infighting weakened the Christian institutions.

After the Seljuks had threatened the Byzantines, the Crusades began. However, what have they accomplished? The second Crusade during the middle of the 12th century was badly defeated, and in AD 1187 Saladin (Salah-ad-Din Yusuf ibn-Ayyub) eradicated most of the European armies at the battle of Hattin. On October 2nd of the same year he recaptured Jerusalem and many of the European strongholds. In the third Crusade, Richard I, king of England (aka Lionheart) could not retake Jerusalem and was forced to sign an armistice for 5 years with Saladin. During this armistice, pilgrims were allowed to visit the Holy sites. In AD 1212, the youth Crusade took place after they were encouraged by the pope to undertake such a crusade and they blindly followed him—an action that led thousands to their death, and many more were missing in action or enslaved. The fifth and seventh Crusades on Egypt failed and the eighth Crusade led by King Louis of France from the South of France who landed with his Army in Tunisia, where for unclear causes he, his son, and his army were plagued by deadly diseases.

The deadly black plague spread throughout Europe between AD 1347-1400 and wiped out about a third of the population and did not spare kings, their families, or the clergy and Europe turned into a group cemetery. The next, but not the final blow was the Protestant Reformation movement.

The founder of Daheshism affirmed that the Spiritual Truth is within God Himself and it is impossible for any man, no matter how elevated he/she may be, to comprehend this Truth, so having monopoly over absolute truth is absurd. He also affirmed that religious teachings are given to people according to their intellectual level, the nature of their environment, and for a specific time period and every believer in a certain religion is judged according to the teachings of his/her religion. He stressed the importance of free will and abhorred blind obedience. He declared that anyone who betrays his mental faculty is betraying his Maker because the mind is a small part of Him. He clarified that the practicing of Spiritual values is the essence of every religion, so the use of terrorism to combat any attack should be rejected because the mean is an integral component of the end, so if the mean is corrupt, the end is corrupt as well. After 60 years, Charles Kimball, professor of comparative religions, explained this in his famous book “When Religion Becomes Evil.”