Victor Tununensis, a sixth century African Bishop related in his Chronicle (566 AD) that when Messala was consul at Costantinople (506 AD), he “censored and corrected” the Gentile Gospels written by persons considered illiterate by the Emperor Anastasius.  The implication was that they were altered to conform to sixth century Christianity which differed from the Christianity of previous centuries.[1]

These “corrections” were by no means confined to the first centuries after Christ.  Sir Higgins says:

“It is impossible to deny that the Bendictine Monks of St. Maur, as far as Latin and Greek language went, were very learned and talented, as well as numerous body of men.  In Cleland’s ‘Life of Lanfranc, Archbishop of Canterbury’, is the following passage: ‘Lanfranc, a Benedictine Monk, Archbishop of Canterbury, having found the Scriptures much corrupted by copyists, applied himself to correct them, as also the writings of the fathers, agreeably to the orthodox faith, secundum fidem orthodoxam.”[2]

In other words, the Christian scriptures were re-written in order to conform to the doctrines of the eleventh and twelfth centuries, and even the writings of the early church fathers were “corrected” so that the changes would not be discovered.  Sir Higgins goes on to say, “The same Protestant divine has this remarkable passage: ‘Impartiality exacts from me the confession, that the orthodox have in some places altered the Gospels’.”

The author then goes on to demonstrate how a massive effort was undertaken in Constantinople, Rome, Canterbury, and the Christian world in general in order to “correct” the Gospels and destroy all manuscripts before this period.

Theodore Zahan, illustrated the bitter conflicts within the established churches in Articles of the Apostolic Creed.  He points out that the Roman Catholics accuse the Greek Orthodox Church of remodeling the text of the holy scriptures by additions and omissions with both good as well as evil intentions.  The Greek Orthodox, on the other hand, accuse the Roman Catholics of straying in many places very far away from the original text.  In spite of their differences, they both join forces to condemn the non-conformist Christians of deviating from “the true way” and condemn them as heretics.  The heretics in turn condemn the Catholics for having “recoined the truth like forgers.” The author concludes “Do not facts support these accusations?”

14. “And from those who said: ‘We are Christians,’ We took their Covenant, but they forgot a good part of the message which was sent to them.  Therefore We have stirred up enmity and hatred among them till the Day of Resurrection, and Allah will inform them of what they used to do. 

15. O people of the Scripture! Now has Our messenger (Muhammad) come to you, explaining to you much of that which you used to hide in the Scripture, and forgiving much.  Indeed, there has come to you a light from Allah and a plain Scripture. 

16. Wherewith Allah guides him who seeks His good pleasure unto paths of peace.  He brings them out of darkness by His will into light, and guides them to a straight path. 

17. They indeed have disbelieved who say: Lo! Allah is the Messiah, son of Mary.  Say: Who then has the least power against Allah, if He had willed to destroy the Messiah son of Mary, and his mother and everyone on earth? And to Allah belongs the dominion of the heavens and the earth and all that is between them.  He creates what He will.  And Allah is Able to do all things. 

18. The Jews and Christians say: We are sons of Allah and His loved ones.  Say; Why then does He punish you for your sins? No, you are but mortals of His creating.  He forgives whom He will, and punishes whom He will.  And to Allah belongs the dominion of the heavens and the earth and all that is between them, and unto Him is the return (of all). 

19. O people of the Scripture! Now has Our messenger (Muhammad) come unto you to make things plain after a break in (the series of) the messengers, lest you should say: There came not unto us a messenger of cheer nor any Warner.  Now has a messenger of cheer and a Warner come unto you.  And Allah is Able to do all things.” (Quran 5:14-19)

St. Augustine himself, a man acknowledged and looked up to by both Protestants and Catholics alike, professed that there were secret doctrines in the Christian religion and that:

“…there were many things true in the Christian religion which it was not convenient for the vulgar [common people] to know, and that some things were false, but convenient for the vulgar to believe in them.”

Sir Higgins admits:

“It is not unfair to suppose that in these withheld truths we have part of the modern Christian mysteries, and I think it will hardly be denied that the church, whose highest authorities held such doctrines, would not scruple to retouch the sacred writings.”[3]

Even the epistles attributed to Paul were not written by him.  After years of research, Catholics and Protestants alike agree that of the thirteen epistles attributed to Paul only seven are genuinely his.  They are: Romans, 1, 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Philipians, Philemon, and 1 Thessalonians.

Christian sects are not even agreed on the definition of what exactly is an “inspired” book of God.  The Protestants are taught that there are 66 truly “inspired” books in the Bible, while the Catholics have been taught that there are 73 truly “inspired” books, not to mention the many other sects and their “newer” books, such as the Mormons, etc.  As we shall see shortly, the very first Christians, for many generations, did not follow either the 66 books of the Protestants, nor the 73 books of the Catholics.  Quite the opposite, they believed in books that were, many generations later, “recognized” to be fabrications and apocrypha by a more enlightened age than that of the apostles.