They believed what????

So I have been researching a lot lately for the Ancient Man book and come across everything from the fascinating to the disturbing to the creepy-McCreeps! From diabolical religious practices to uncanny resemblances to the Bible these ancient religions and myths I've been studying are constantly throwing me for a loop.

Check out this excerpt from an ancient Hindi manuscript:

Let us meditate on God, His glorious attributes, who is the basis of everything in this universes as its Creator, who is fit to be worshiped as Omnipresent, Omnipotent, Omniscient and self existent conscious being, who removes all ignorance and impurities from the mind and purifies and sharpens the intellect

I cannot help but be astounded by this description of a god so similar to the One true God! Hinduism does not currently recognize a single concept of god but more the supreme god manifests himself in many ways. Seeing this knowledge of the true attributes of God in ancient religions really gets you thinking.

Or this ancient Egyptian hymn to Amen-Ra:

Adoration be to Thee, O Maker of the gods, who hast stretched out the heavens and founded the earth!...Lord of eternity, maker of the everlastingness...creator of light...He heareth the prayer  of the oppressed one, he is kind of heart to him that calleth upon him, he delivereth the timid man from the oppressor

I am reminded of the Psalms:

Answer me when I call, O God of my righteousness! You have relieved me of my distress; be gracious to me and hear my prayer - Psalm 4:1

Even the gruesome human sacrifices of the Aztec people have the roots in the misinterpretation of some interesting spiritual allegories:

My well loved and tender son...know and understand that thy house is not here...This house wherein thou art born is but a nest, an inn at which thou has arrived, thy entry into this world; here dost thou bud and flower...thy true home is another

I am reminded that God calls us to live in this world but our true home is with Him:

If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you. - John 15:19

For our citizenship is in heaven... - Philippians 3:20 

Another tradition from Teotihuacan (ancient Aztec city) states:

When we die, truly we die not because we will live, we will rise, we will continue living, we will awaken...

 This seems to come back to the concept of eternal life after death which we are promised through the saving grace of Jesus Christ.

For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain - Philippians 1:21

For the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord - Romans 6:23 

Somehow these ancient religions knew something of the truth. Of course, this study of ancient man gives a lot of evidence as to this fact. The book we are writing clearly outlines how Noah would have handed down the truths of God to his children and their children and so on but as the generations go on, things are bound to become distorted. Especially with the rebellion at Babel and the subsequent dispersion of peoples around the globe. It would be impossible for the truth to remain intact without divine intervention as God did with the nation of Israel. Even then, that chosen nation fell into sin and rebellion of God. However it is still awe-inspiring that the most obscure religion, the most diabolical, the most bizarre, has some concept of the truth. For truly, there is nothing new under the sun and as Pastor Don teaches at the Bible College, "Satan can't create, he can only pervert". Indeed Satan has avidly perverted God's message to the nations but there is still some truth left. It brings to mind the verse in Acts when Barnabas and Paul spoke to the people at Lystra:

"In the generations gone by He permitted all the nations to go their own ways; and yet He did not leave Himself without witness, in that He did good and gave you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons, satisfying your hearts with food and gladness." (14:16-17)

Truly mankind is without excuse yet we continually "suppress the truth in unrighteousness" (Romans 1:18). How great and terrible will be the day God judges the earth for our rebellion.