IBKEN

My eyes have been widened as I have learned some history that goes without speaking but is none the less, quite important.

I recently found out that Jewish people do not say “Amen”, however they do say “Amein” which sounds like (ah-mane).  I was curious to know if there was any difference so I did a quick search and found quite a few articles however I found this one to have the best information.

http://www.renewedminds2purehearts.com/uploads/5/8/3/6/5836053/amen_or_amein.pdf

I will copy from that for easy reading:

Amen or Amein?

The Hebrew of the First Covenant [Old Testament] reveals to us that the Scriptural Hebrew word (which means: so be it, or verily or surely) is “Amein” (Phonetic Spelling is “aw-mane”) and not “Amen”. Anyone can confirm this in Strong’s Concordance, No 543 in its Hebrew Lexicon, or in Aaron Pick’s Dictionary of Old Testament Words for English Readers.

I personally write it as “Ahmein” – it sounds exactly the same as the phonetic spelling and does NOT ALTER the word, nor does it alter the pronunciation of the word!

The letters “ah” appears TWICE in Almighty Father Y-ah-u-ah’s Name and ONCE in Messiah Y-ah-u-sh-a’s Name! In them everything is established (so be it)!

Why then, has this Scriptural word “Amein” been rendered as “Amen” in our versions? Again we can see how the pagans have been made welcome, been conciliated, by adopting the name of pagan deity into the Church.

The Egyptians, including the Alexandrians, had been worshipping, or been acquainted with, the head of the Egyptian pantheon, Amen-Ra, the great Sun-deity, for more than 1 000 years, B.C.E. Before this deity became known as Amenra – he was only known as Amen among the Thebians. This substitution of “Amen” for “Amein” was greatly facilitated by the fact that this Egyptian deity’s name was spelt in Egyptian hieroglyphic language with only three letters: AMN.

On the other hand, the Egyptian deity AMN is rendered by various sources as AMEN, or AMUN, or as AMON. However, the most reliable Egyptologists and archaeologists, such as Sir E.A. Wallis Budge, Dr. A.B. Cook, Prof. A Wiedemann, Sir W.M.F. Petrie, and A.W. Shorter, as well as some authoritative dictionaries, all render the name of this Egyptian deity as AMEN. This AMEN was originally the Theban “hidden god who is in heaven” — “the hidden one, probably meaning hidden sun”. Funk and Wagnalls, Standard College Dictionary, describes it, “AMEN: In Egyptian mythology, the god of life and procreation… later identified with the Sun-god as the supreme deity, and called ‘Amen-Ra’.

“James Bonwick, Egyptian Belief and Modern Thought”, repeatedly and frankly calls the Sun-deity of Egypt by its correct name: AMEN. He states on pp. 123-125, “AMEN … is in a sense, the chief deity of Egypt – supreme divinity. Whatever else he is, he must be accepted as the sun … the hidden god, the solar aspect is clear … there is the disk of the sun … the sun Amen … His identification with Ba’al … establishes him as a solar deity ….”

Smith’s Bible Dictionary expresses AMEN as, “an Egyptian divinity … he was worshipped … as Amen-Ra, or ‘Amen the Sun’.” Herodotus recorded for us how the Greeks identified their Zeus with Amen-Ra.

Yahusha Messiah calls Himself “the Amein” in Rev 3:14.

Substituting a title or name of Yahusha with the name of the great hidden Sky-deity or the great Sun-deity of the Egyptians, Amen, is inconceivable! The difference is subtle, but it is there. By ending our prayers “Amen” instead of “Amein”, one could very well conclude: We have been misled to [unintentionally] invoke the name of the Egyptian Sun-deity at the end of our prayers!

From the Book “Come out of Her My People” by C.J. Koster Edited by PierreRock Eksteen

So interesting find… I wanted to validate some of what I just read, so I did a search on Amen-Ra, and Amen comes up over and over, as well as many sites based upon exactly what we just read.

However the most interesting read by far was this site:

http://truthforafricalovers.com/truth_about_amen-ra

This website fills in a lot of the details however towards the end, it is in direct conflict with the last page, as this page feels saying “Amen” is not bad, however after what I have read,

I have copied most the site here for easy reading:

(If you want the real juicy stuff scroll down to Is Amen-Ra Good?)

TRUTH ABOUT AMEN-RA

The ancient Egyptian god/idol Amen-Ra has been resurrected.  When the Afrikania “Mission” realized that they could promote African traditional religion by uniting it around a single god, they faced a problem.  Which one, of the hundreds or thousands worshiped in Africa?  How would one be considered better than another?  And wouldn’t the devotees of other shrines feel slighted if the god of another shrine was chosen to be the “biggie”?

The answer was to go back to an ancient god.  Through what must have been a rather arbitrary process, the ancient god/ idol Amen-Ra, once worshiped in Egypt was chosen and declared to be the supreme god.

In doing so, Afrikania bypassed the Supreme Creator God the All-Powerful, the Eternal One known by virtually all African cultures and expressed by various names.  His existence is acknowledged everywhere, but He is seldom worshiped.

TRUTH ABOUT AMEN-RA

Who was Amen-Ra?

Amen was an ancient Egyptian deity, first a local deity worshipped in the area of Thebes.  When the two kingdoms of Egypt united, early in Egyptian history, he grew in importance until he emerged as the chief deity.  This did not take place until the 18thDynasty (1570-1293 B.C.).

Amen means “that which cannot be seen,” for as a local deity Amen had been the god of the wind.  Later, as the chief deity, he was considered king of the gods.

As was often the case in Egyptian religion, this god was often combined with others, thus pleasing the worshippers of those deities.  Especially effective was his combination with Ra, the sun god.  Ra was believed to be the father of all living things and the physical father of all the Pharaohs.

In modern times some extremists like the Afrikania Mission and others have rejected the Christian God in favor of this ancient Egyptian deity, calling themselves “children of Amen-Ra.”

Is Amen-Ra the Creator?

Amen-Ra is not generally regarded as the oldest of the gods worshiped inEgypt.  Usually the oldest religion is claimed for Horus, the Hawk-god. 1

At times in Egyptian history, devotees of Amen-Ra claimed hE was the Creator, thus some dictionaries of Egyptian mythology claim Amen was self-created in the beginning.  Yet other dictionaries follow older records claiming that Amen was one of eight gods made by Thoth.   Thus the earlier Egyptians saw Amen as a created being, not the creator.  Yet neither was Thoth the creator, for they believed he was created by Ra-Atum, the sun god, represented by a bull.  One might claim they thought of Ra-Atum as the creator, for they said he created himself out of the primeval waters of Nun.  (Other legends say it was from one of the four original frog gods and snake goddesses that he was created.)

Yet if he created himself out of any snake or frog god or goddess or any waters, then those gods or waters existed before him and he did not create them.  Then someone else created them and Ra-Atum is not the ultimate Creator, either.

In fact, it is probably obvious by now that the Egyptians recognized that there must be a Creator, but they were pretty confused about who He was, and there were many contradictory stories.

It was common for priests of each god to claim that their god was the greatest and possessed special powers.  For instance, devotees of Hapi, God of theNile, also claimed that Hopi was creator of the Universe and all in it.  Creative powers were claimed for a number of gods—Nun, Tem, Ra, Ptah, Atum, and others–but these claims, followed back far enough in history, fall far short of a claim to absolute deity.

Clearly, if one wants to look for the Creator, the Big Creator, the Ultimate Creator, the One beyond whom we can go back no further because He existed before all things, one must look elsewhere.

_

Is Amen-Ra good?

The ancient Egyptians themselves seemed to be more concerned with their god’s power, glory, and ability to intervene on their behalf than they were with ethical questions of goodness.  Modern Afrocentrists have claimed that all the gods are good, usually as a simple affirmation with no supporting evidence offered.

One of the most telling stories about the real nature of this deity is the historical story concerning the coffin of a princess-priestess of Amen-Ra.  The priestess who served Amen-Ra was buried in a deep vault atLuxor.  Her mummy case was later exhumed, perhaps by grave robbers, and sold in 1890 to a wealthy Englishman, who drew lots with four friends for the honor of purchasing it.  After he sent the coffin to his hotel, he was seen walking out toward the desert and never returned.

The second man was accidentally shot and his arm had to be amputated.  The third man arrived home to find that his entire life savings had disappeared in a bank crisis.  The fourth man became severely ill.  He lost his job and ended up selling matches on the street in order to survive.

When the coffin reachedEngland, a London businessman purchased it.  Soon three members of his family were injured in a road accident and his house was badly damaged by a fire.

He donated it to theBritishMuseum.  As the coffin was being unloaded at the museum, the truck suddenly went into reverse and trapped a bystander.  As it was being taken up the stairs, one workman fell and broke his leg.  The other two workmen died two days later for no particular reason.  Both had been in excellent health previously.

When the mummy was placed in the Egyptian Room, the night watchmen frequently complained that they heard sobbing and hammering coming from the coffin.  Other exhibits were thrown around during the night.  One watchman died while on duty.  A visitor flicked a dust cloth at the coffin, and his child died soon afterwards.

The mummy caused so much trouble at the museum that they had it removed to the basement.  Shortly, one of the movers became seriously ill and the supervisor who had ordered the move was found dead on his desk.

The newspapers heard about the mummy and came to take pictures of it.  When the pictures were developed, one was so horrible that the photographer shot himself.

The museum sold the mummy to a private collector.  It brought many deaths and continual misfortune to his family.  Finally he put it up in the attic to get rid of it.

A well-known occultist, Madame Helena Blavatsky, visited the home.  As soon as she came in, she began shivering uncontrollably and said there was an evil someplace in the house of incredible intensity.

Finding the coffin, the owner asked her to exorcise the spirit, but she could not.  She said “Evil remains evil forever,” and urged him to get rid of the thing.

However, so many people had died and met such calamity from exposure to the thing that no British museum anywhere would take the thing.  Finally an American archaeologist bought it and arranged to send it toNew York.  In 1912 he escorted his new possession aboard an ocean liner bound forNew York.  On April 14, in the midst of unparalleled scenes of horror, the priestess of Amen-Ra took 1,500 passengers to their deaths in the icy waters of the Atlantic along with the Titanic.

I’ll let you decide.  Does Amen-Ra sound like a benevolent deity to you?

Is Amen-Ra all-powerful?

 Many Egyptologists regard Ptah as originally being the overlord of Ra.  Ra was a local god—the god ofThebes, who eventually became elevated and worshiped by others as well. 2


Ra was ascribed creative powers by some, yet other legends show him as a feeble old man.  In one story the goddess Isis contrived and succeeded in forcing him to whisper to her his secret name.  Even the way she contrived shows Ra in a weaker position.  He had grown old and drooled, the story goes.  SoIsis mixed his saliva with earth to make a snake.  The snake bit Ra and he was in terrible agony.  Only Isis could cure him.  She refused to do so until he gave in and told her his secret name.  Does Amen-Ra sound like an all-powerful god on whom you would like to call for help?

If the ancient Egyptians were confused about who the real God was, He did not leave Himself without witness.  According to the Holy Scriptures, God sent His own chosen* people to live amongst them for four hundred years as His witnesses.  Then He chose Moses to witness before a hard-hearted Pharaoh the truth that He was far more powerful than any of the gods they worshipped.

The first miracle Moses did was to have Aaron throw his rod down before Pharaoh (Genesis 7) When it became a snake, this must have brought to Pharaoh’s mind the legendary snakes of the primeval waters from whom the other gods of Egypt were believed to have come.  It should have showed Pharaoh that He was dealing with a power older and more powerful than that of any of his gods.  The magicians ofEgypt, it is true, followed by also bringing forth snakes.  Yet Aaron’s snake ate up all of theirs.  This was a preview of events to follow.  God  spoke gently at first, but when Pharaoh refused to acknowledge Him, other, more devastating events followed.

The plagues that followed showed God’s power over the main gods they worshipped—even over the Nile God, the primeval frog gods, and even over Ra, the sun god (Exodus 7-10).  When Pharaoh finally agreed to let the Hebrews go, he soon changed his mind and chased after them.  They were cornered at the Red Sea with no escape, but when Moses lifted up his rod over the waters in obedience to God’s command, God made a strong wind to blow so that a path appeared in the sea and they escaped.  When they were safe across the water, God stopped the wind so that the sea returned and drowned the Egyptians who were seeking to kill them (Exodus 12).

But why could the Egyptians not call on Amen, the ancient god of the wind?  Perhaps they did, but they were facing the God who created the earth’s atmosphere and who designed and controls the wind He made.  When God the Creator blew, Amen could not stand.  God the Creator had clearly and forcefully shown that even if Amen ruled some lesser gods, He the Creator ruled over all, King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

Is Amen-Ra worthy of our worship and devotion?

The modern Afrikania movement calls on all sons and daughters of Africa to “return” to the worship of Amen-Ra.  In fact, of course, only a tiny tiny percentage of Africans ever worshipped Amen-Ra, so such a call to return must be based on something other than historical reality.  To many, Amen-Ra is seen as a unifying force that can bring all Africans together.  But is this god worthy of the position that so many want to give him in our modern world?

It has been established that Amen-Ra is not the God who created us.  He is not all-powerful, and he is not a benevolent deity.  But there is another reason why, brothers and sisters of Africa, we must not succumb to worship Amen-Ra.

Any deity, any spirit, any person other than our Creator who seeks or accepts worship is not beneficent.  That deity is not seeking the good of humanity.  The Bible makes this very clear.

How long has Amen-Ra been worshiped?

Amen-Ra rose to power in the 18th Dynasty. 3 Seventeen families of kings ruled Egypt before Amen-Ra was recognized as a central deity!  If that is returning to our African roots, my brothers, we have not gone back far enough.

I will choose “Amein” moving forward.