Traditional religious establishments have brainwashed us to think Moses taught monotheism on Mount Sinai.  He didn’t.  They tell us that the Judeo-Christian tradition has always believed in only one God.  It didn’t.  In fact, monotheism did not even exist among the Hebrews until the late 600's BCE, which was long after Moses and the early Prophets.  When monotheism came to dominate Jewish thinking in the mid 400's BCE under Ezra, then God stopped sending Prophets to Israel altogether.  Why did the Prophets cease?  Was Yahweh angry at the monotheists?

     Henotheism, not monotheism, is the theology of Moses and the Prophets.  Henotheism is the belief that many gods exist, but that only one God should be worshipped.  Unlike monotheism, there are truly many gods and they really do exist.  Yet unlike polytheism, not all the gods are worshipped.

     Allusions to "the gods" plural are constant throughout the Dead Sea Scrolls.  Here are two examples:

 

On the Last Day, the congress of the gods shall engage in ferocious combat with the armies of the humans, causing mass destruction.[1]

 

Who in the heavens is like you, my God?  Who among the sons of the gods?  Who in the entire congress of the gods?[2]

 

We may also point out that Josephus makes mention of the fact that some Jews were not monotheists even in his day:

 

There are many schisms among the Jews.  Some espouse that God is one, as it says in the ancient holy writ, but others declare that God is a plurality.[3]

 

The Dead Sea Scrolls also mention a church of gods, and that Michael reigns over a kingdom of gods.  They also specify that these are living gods, indicating their real existence outside the imagination.[4]  The Dead Sea Scrolls were written by the Essenes, who, as we have already stated, were in many ways similar to Jesus, and were the only major denomination of Judaism that Jesus did not criticize.  One must ask, if Jesus were so adamantly opposed to the Pharisees and the Sadducees, who believed in only one God, yet was tolerant toward the Essenes, who believed in many gods, then does it not stand to reason that Jesus Christ himself may have also believed in many gods? 

     In fact, Jesus Christ did believe in many gods.  This is implicitly stated within his commentary on Psalm 82.  People were criticizing him for calling himself the Son of God, because they thought it was blasphemy.  In response, Jesus pointed out that Psalm 82 in the Bible says that there are many gods, and so therefore it is not blasphemy for Jesus to assert that he is one of these gods, as he put it:

 

Is it not written in your Torah, "I said you are gods?"  If he called them gods unto whom the word of God came, and the scripture cannot be broken, then how can you accuse me of blasphemy just because I said I am the Son of God?[5]

 

By saying this, Jesus affirmed the real existence of more than one God and affirmed his own divinity at the same time.[6]

     More than a few ancient Christian writers affirmed the existence of many gods.  They spoke of "cosmic gods,"[7] "secret gods,"[8] and "gods that are above god."[9]  They said "God creates gods,"[10] and that "when three gods are in one place, they are gods,"[11] indicative of the Trinity. 

     The early Christians who believed in a multitude of gods clearly distinguished them from angels and demons.  One text lists several types of heavenly entities including, "cosmocrator princes, principalities, authorities, woman-gods, man-gods, and archangels"[12] – each apparently being distinct.  The depths of hell are also filled with distinctly different entities, including at least four different types - "princes, angels, demons, and souls."[13]  The following two passages give us precision in defining gods, for they draw a distinction between "gods" and "angels," making it clear they are two different types of entities.

 

The gods arose, and from them divine gods, and from them masters, and from them archangels.[14] 

 

We are not certain whether the Unfathomable One has angels or gods – or maybe he was just by himself in the ylem.[15]

 

The Genesis story records that the serpent tempted Eve saying, "Your eyes will be opened, and you will become like elohim."[16]  The Hebrew word elohim can mean either "God" singular or "gods" plural, depending on the verb.  An early Christian source clarifies the matter, explicitly saying "You will become like gods."[17]  Moreover, the book of Jubilees found among the Dead Sea Scrolls also confirms that "gods" plural is the original meaning.[18] 

The God of the early sources of Genesis clearly does not know everything.  Ancient Christians attested to this:

 

The prince asked, "Adam, where are you?"[19] because he didn't know what happened.[20]

 

What kind of God angrily keeps Adam from eating of the Tree of Knowledge and asks "Adam, where are you?"  Doesn't God know everything?[21]

 

The early Christian sources also state that "the gods are derived from pristine matter."[22]  Here, the gods are not spiritual entities, but material entities, and therefore may be biological in nature like we are.  Yet the same passage also asserts that the gods are immortal.  Perhaps certain biological entities that are much more intelligent than we are have figured out a way to cheat death indefinitely, and thus become "pristine matter."

Click here to read more about how the ancient scriptures prove that the God of the Prophets was not all powerful.

The creationist narrative in Genesis 1 is contradicted by many ancient Christian texts.  Instead of an Almighty Creator God, ancient Christian texts espouse that the universe is born from blind arrogance and stupidity.  The angels caused evolution to occur from species to species.  There are many gods, (or aliens?), and the Christian God is just one among them.  Satan the Devil writes scripture, and thus the Bible was polluted with Genesis 1.  Archaeology and modern scholarship demonstrate that Genesis is indeed corrupted.  Cavemen walk with Adam and Eve.  Esoteric prophecies reveal the coming of Christ, and also reveal the dark forces that govern the cosmos.  Such are the ancient Christian writings.