FORBIDDEN GENESIS TWO: THE SECRET BOOKS OF YESHUA
INTRODUCTION
Step quietly with me into the twilight realm where history and myth come together, and the air itself seems to hum with forbidden secrets waiting to be revealed. Here, in this realm, each passage, every word shimmers with possibility, promising a journey where the known world dissolves and shadows of lost knowledge beckon from every corner. What lies ahead for us is not a familiar tale told in hushed tones from church pulpits or textbooks, but a mixture of forgotten stories and lost voices, straining against the boundaries of accepted tradition, daring us to question what we have always been told.
Within these pages of the follow-up to Forbidden Genesis: The Untold Story of Man, you will sense the pulse of ancient mysteries, stories that were once only whispered in secret gatherings and recorded by hands uncertain whether their words would survive. They drift between the lines of accepted doctrine and heresy, lingering in the hidden darkness just beyond the reach of flickering candlelight, calling out from eras when faith and doubt danced together and certainty itself was elusive.
As you read, you may notice how time itself feels distorted. Centuries collapse into a single breath, and the voices of the distant past suddenly seem ever so urgent, immediate, restless. The stories collected here do not merely recount the life of a legendary “Man;” they invite us to stand at the crossroads of belief and skepticism, to witness the struggles of souls searching for meaning in a world ruled by violence and empire, where the promise of hope is both fragile and fiercely defended.
There are Gospels here that do not fit easily within the lines of official history, offering glimpses of conversations and events that challenge not only accepted dogma but the shape of memory itself. Some of these stories speak in riddles, others with raw emotion, weaving together wisdom and uncertainty in equal measure. We will encounter figures who were praised and condemned, leaders and servants who dared to question, and followers who paid a price for their courage. The words may sometimes feel strange or even unsettling, but always urging us to dig deeper, to sift through the layers of tradition and find the startling possibilities that lie just beneath the surface.
Let our curiosity awaken as we move from one dark, shadowy doorway to the next. Each passage carries us farther from the safety of the known, inviting us to linger in mystery. To ask, to listen, and to imagine. Consider how every text here was once a living part of someone’s faith, a guide in times of uncertainty, a spark in the darkness. As we journey, the boundaries between fact and fable, history and hope, will blur and reform, revealing new landscapes of profound meaning where the sacred and the hidden find their voices together.
If we listen closely, we will begin to sense how the world that gave birth to these stories was itself a swirling mosaic of cultures colliding, beliefs converging and diverging, and people living on the edge of uncertainty. In the flickering light of ancient Galilee, where the hills echoed with the rhythms of daily life and the hush of midnight winds, men and women struggled to preserve their traditions while bearing the relentless weight of foreign rule. Yet, amid hardship, their words and ideas flourished in hidden places, passed in whispers through narrow streets and secret gatherings, inscribed in trembling hands upon fragile parchment and tucked away among the stones of forgotten synagogues and homes.
These stories were not always meant to comfort; often, they provoked, disturbed, and challenged those who heard them. They offered glimpses of a world where the boundaries between sacred and secular, between the seen and the unseen, were porous and ever shifting. In these tales, the ordinary could become miraculous, and the miraculous was sometimes clothed in both humility and obscurity.
There are texts here that question the very nature of faith and authority, that invite us to step outside the prescribed boundaries and explore vistas of spiritual possibility. Even as the shadow of empire loomed over their time and ours, for that matter. However, there was one voice that dared to speak of hope, a hope that was later fiercely guarded by some, quietly nurtured by others, and, at times, boldly declared by His followers.
You are invited now to join me in this ancient conversation, to listen for the resonance of wisdom that has survived both time and oppression. Each text serves as a portal, opening onto landscapes of belief and doubt, revelation and mystery, where every discovery leads to new questions and every answer is woven with threads of possibility.
Now that I hopefully have your attention, if not an eye roll, my name is Joshua, and I will be your tour guide and fellow seeker through these controversial ancient writings. In Forbidden Genesis, I gave you my own modern interpretation of some of the Gnostic texts, basically my personal NIV version of the King James, and left the meanings hidden in the texts up to you to decipher. However, we will now revisit them in a different way. In this book, I will provide you with the history and criticism the text received, before important passages, followed by what I believe the original authors were attempting to reveal, and finally, the text’s legacy.
Yet, this book will be more than just the Gnostic texts; we will also uncover some of the mysteries, such as did Yeshua travel to India, was He a teacher among the Essenes, and finally, a selected group of the Apocryphal writings that surrounded the life and teachings of Yeshua. For the most part, every chapter here will be formatted the same, only venturing out of the style when there is more information on a selected text or the individual the text is attributed to. I'm sure you all know who that person is, but for those who don't, we will keep it a mystery for now.
Even though this book will be different in writing style from the first Forbidden Genesis, which was more of my own personal journey from horror novelist to a near-death experience, and to finally the truth, this one will be much more scholarly. However, don't let that term scare you. I am still the same sarcastic fictional author turned spiritual seeker, if not armchair philosopher, who will be including some of my personal thoughts along the way.
I love you all, Joshua T. Whaley.
