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Matthew Stuckey here and I want to make a quick video exposing some myths of the religion of Zoroastrianism. Zoroastrianism was a religion that was a lot more prominent in the past. Today there's only a few hundred thousand as far as a statistic state that are surviving today and it's a religion that kind of got driven out by the Muslims and they went into India where there's several hundred thousand are worshipping the religion today. But it used to be the big religion of ancient Persia. It used to be a very very prominent religion and so there's a lot of myths that you hear about Zoroastrianism and I just wanted to dispel three of those really quickly here. One thing you often hear is this that Zoroastrianism was the first monotheistic religion. That it was the first religion that had a belief in one God and every religion before that was polytheistic. Now the problem with that right off the bat is that the first two people that ever existed were Adam and Eve. And Adam and Eve and Seth and Abel and Jacob and Abraham and all of the characters that came before Jesus Christ they believed in the same God that we do today. They believed in the living God. They believed in the true God. Now they look forward toward the coming Messiah whereas we look back at the Messiah the Savior who already came but they believed in the same living God that we do today. You know God eternally existed as three persons. God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Ghost and he still exists as three persons. God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Ghost. One God that exists in three persons and God has not changed. He has always been like that. So they believe in the same God that we do today. So right off the bat that's not the first monotheistic religion because you have to realize that religion is not necessarily a bad thing. Pure religion and undefileable for God and the Father is this to visit the fatherless and the widows in their affliction and to keep himself unspotted from the world. Adam and Eve they believe in the true God. Okay they were not Zoroastrians. You know another thing is that Zoroastrianism is a dualistic religion. They believe in two gods. They don't even believe in one God. So that dispels the idea that they are the first monotheistic religion. They believe in Ahura Mazda and Angra Manu. And you say well what's the difference? Here's the difference Ahura Mazda is good, Angra Manu is bad. And they believe that eternally existing there was a good and a bad force. Okay and that it is a close battle. Well this is very different between God and the devil because the devil did not exist eternally. The devil was created and the devil is no match for God. So they do believe in two gods right Ahura Mazda and Angra Manu. And when you listen this is a debate people have. Should they be called monotheistic or dualistic? Well they only worship one God but they believe in two eternal forces that are powerful. So they believe in a dualistic system which is different than the Bible. The other thing is this there are a lot of denominations within Zoroastrianism just like there are in pretty much every religion. And so there are varied beliefs in some of the things they believe and some maybe they wouldn't hold to that as strictly with Angra Manu like most do today. But their beliefs are very similar to Hindu type beliefs in terms of spirits and gods and various things that they worship. And that's gonna make more sense in a second. But claiming they're the first monotheistic religion does not make sense okay. It is not biblical. And so number one they are not the first monotheistic religion. Number two they're not the world's oldest religion as they claim. They claim to be the world's oldest religion but that's not true. Once again Adam and Eve they were not Zoroastrians and so they're not the oldest. It's it's not the oldest organized religion that existed okay. Another thing is this when you look at Zoroastrianism they they derive from the Vedic religion. They follow the Vedas okay. Just like the Hindus claim today to follow the Vedas which they really don't which is a whole nother topic. Zoroastrians they really do follow the Vedic religion. And so this is why you see that in the the the Vedic tradition how making burning and fires was an obsession of them. And women would often burn themselves to death after their husbands died. And if they refused they would be thrown in. A practice called the Sadi practice which Hindus would follow for a long time although it would slowly vanish away. Well this comes from the Vedic tradition. It comes from the Vedas which are the eternal truth of God according to the Hindus today even though they don't really follow it as they're they practice eating cows and things like that in the Vedas. However the Zoroastrians they do really follow very strictly. Their obsession is fire. That's what their religion is all about is just keeping that fire going. And you say where did that come from? It came from the Vedas which they follow. You say well how do they come from the Vedas? Well over in India they worshipped you know basically two main gods at the time Indra and Varuna. Indra and Varuna. Now they've kind of changed the names of the various gods and they have just a multiplicity of gods even though they believe in this one overall spirit. They worship all these different gods and Indra was starting to take over for Varuna. Now what happened was that Zoroaster or Zarahustra which is the founder of Zoroastrianism you know he wanted to follow Varuna. He believed that was the one that was the god that they should be following. And so that's what they did follow. However the name was changed from Varuna to Ahura Mazda. Okay Ahura Mazda over in the Iranian area. Obviously geography and stuff has changed since this time. This is a long time ago. But basically you know Varuna they moved over and started worshipping with the name changed the name of Ahura Mazda. But you can look up anything and it's it's a fact it's the same god that they were following. So here's the thing about this it's not the world's oldest religion because it's coming from the Vedic tradition. The Vedic religions. They followed the Vedas and they just changed the name. So it's not the first monotheistic religion and you could question whether you consider that monotheistic when they believe in you know two eternal gods and they worship a multiplicity of gods even though they might or even though some Zoroastrians believe in this one you know essence that's out there. And you can look at them and they're not the world's oldest religion. So they're not the first monotheistic religion. They're not the world's oldest religion or the world's oldest organized religion. But also another thing you hear is that the three Magi were Zoroastrian priests. The reason why they say this is one of the name for the Zoroastrian priests is Magi. And the Bible translates this as wise men. It does not say Magi. Now modern translations have perverted this and some of them say wise men and they'll say well there's there's three Zoroastrian priests that visited baby Jesus. Now here's the thing it doesn't say three to begin with and that's a whole nother topic. But the Bible translates it as wise men. It's not Magi. Okay they're not Zoroastrian priests. Why would a Zoroastrian priest visit Jesus Christ which is about a different religion and a different belief system? It doesn't make any sense. You say well what is a wise man? Well the Bible says he that winneth souls is wise. Now there are false sorcerers that are labeled as wise men which are the the priests or spiritual leaders of false religions. But being a wise man is someone who actually wins souls. And so these were godly people that visited the Lord Jesus Christ that believed in this coming Messiah and they were there when he actually came. These were not Zoroastrian priests. So number one Zoroastrianism is not the first monotheistic religion. Number two it's not the world's oldest religion or the world's oldest organized religion. And number three those three Magi were not three Zoroastrian priests. And just kind of in conclusion Zoroastrianism is a dying religion. It is a false religion. It's a wicked religion just like any false religion. It is dying out. It is it is going away. And they fled to India because Muslims kind of took over. But here's the thing it makes sense they fled to India because they are a Vedic religion. They come from that Vedic tradition and so it makes sense that they went home to their you know mother country of India. But it is a false wicked religion. Thank you and God bless.