By which term is meant the scrotum-twisting attempt of early xtian writers, like Justin and Tertullian to explain the obvious similarities between jesusism and the many other cults of dying and resurrected gods which were prevalent in the Roman empire.
Tertullian:
In other words, the devil was so smart that he saw what was coming and preempted the jesus story by flooding the world with other similar gods. Xtians have a tendency to make Satan consistently smarter than their silly-assed god who kind of comes off as a low-grade moron in comparison.
Quote:CHAPTER LIV -- ORIGIN OF HEATHEN MYTHOLOGY.
But those who hand down the myths which the poets have made, adduce no proof to the youths who learn them; and we proceed to demonstrate that they have been uttered by the influence of the wicked demons, to deceive and lead astray the human race. For having heard it proclaimed through the prophets that the Christ was to come, and that the ungodly among men were to be punished by fire, they put forward many to be called sons of Jupiter, under the impression that they would be able to produce in men the idea that the things which were said with regard to Christ were mere marvellous tales, like the things which were said by the poets. And these things were said both among the Greeks and among all nations where they [the demons] heard the prophets foretelling that Christ would specially be believed in; but that in hearing what was said by the prophets they did not accurately understand it, but imitated what was said of our Christ, like men who are in error, we will make plain.
First Apology Ch LIV
Tertullian:
Quote:Chapter XL.-No Difference in the Spirit of Idolatry and of Heresy. In the Rites of Idolatry, Satan Imitated and Distorted the Divine Institutions of the Older Scriptures. The Christian Scriptures Corrupted by Him in the Perversions of the Various Heretics.
The question will arise, By whom is to be interpreted417 the sense of the passages which make for heresies? By the devil, of course, to whom pertain those wiles which pervert the truth, and who, by the mystic rites of his idols, vies even with the essential portions418 of the sacraments of God.419 He, too, baptizes some-that is, his own believers and faithful followers;420 he promises the putting away421 of sins by a layer (of his own); and if my memory still serves me, Mithra there, (in the kingdom of Satan, ) sets his marks on the foreheads of his soldiers; celebrates also the oblation of bread, and introduces an image of a resurrection, and before a sword wreathes a crown.422 What also must we say to (Satan's) limiting his chief priest423 to a single marriage? He, too, has his virgins; he, too, has his proficients in continence.424 Suppose now we revolve in our minds the superstitions of Numa Pompilius, and consider his priestly offices and badges and privileges, his sacrificial services, too, and the instruments and vessels of the sacrifices themselves, and the curious rites of his expiations and vows: is it not clear to us that the devil imitated the well-known425 moroseness of the Jewish law? Since, therefore he has Shown such emulation in his great aim of expressing, in the concerns of his idolatry, those very things of which consists the administration of Christ's sacraments, it follows, of course, that the same being, possessing still the same genius, both set his heart upon,426 and succeeded in, adapting427 to his profane and rival creed the very documents of divine things and of the Christian saints428 -his interpretation from their interpretations, his words from their words, his parables from their parables. For this reason, then, no one ought to doubt, either that "spiritual wickednesses," from which also heresies come, have been introduced by the devil, or that there is any real difference between heresies and idolatry, seeing that they appertain both to the same author and the same work that idolatry does. They either pretend that there is another god in opposition to the Creator, or, even if they acknowledge that the Creator is the one only God, they treat of Him as a different being from what He is in truth. The consequence is, that every lie which they speak of God is in a certain sense a sort of idolatry
The Prescription Against Heretics Ch XL
In other words, the devil was so smart that he saw what was coming and preempted the jesus story by flooding the world with other similar gods. Xtians have a tendency to make Satan consistently smarter than their silly-assed god who kind of comes off as a low-grade moron in comparison.
