Rating: 
Summary: Who is Lloyd M. Graham?
Review: A fascinating book, the unveiling we were all waiting for. Finally someone tapped with the esoteric meaning of The Bible. All these preachers: they only talk about The Bible and they don't seem to understand the first word in it. They should all read Graham's book with an open mind (too much to ask?) and maybe this will in turn open their eyes. The big questions, after you read this excellent book, are: who is Lloyd M. Graham? Is this his real name? Is he brittish, american, what? Has he written other books? What is his affiliation,if any? Does he belong to an esoteric or secret society? and if he does, how can we get additional information on this organization? Further more, how did he obtain some of the information reported in his book? What are his sources? If someone reading this review can give us any clue on this, please don't hesitate to write. Thanks. PepeGuitar@aol.com
Rating:
Summary: A Daring Work
Review: I have read NUMEROUS books written by Christain folks who simply spit out the same asinine "insights" that leads us to the current world madness. Mr. Graham's work stands out because he offers no apologies. He does not cave into being "policitally correct". Many of things he covers can not be understood within the short space he has to work. So to hit as many points as he wishes to cover he leaves it up to us, the readers, to explore his insights deeper. For those Christains who wish to dismiss this work it is out of fear that perhaps the myths they have been hanging onto all their lives are just so many ghosts. Looking into our current day understanding of the atomic structure of life we find Graham just may not be so far off the mark. Is there a God? Graham does not dismiss God in his book. What he actually describes is a God that is NOT wrapped up in our stupid little twisted views of reality. In the end, man wrote the bible. Plain and simple. So all the concepts, ideas and stupidity comes from man's viewpoint. Some say God inspired man to write the bible. But the bible is NOT one "book" at all. It has been assembled. Picked through and chosen. How strange God could not "write" one clear cut work. A manual to life so to speak. Instead we have these ancient scriptures that even today are being RE-WRITTEN to better conform to what the "church" wants us to believe. In chats I say the bible will be completely re-written in 1,000 years. I actually think it will be completed in less time. And today we see this being done. Graham's work is not as "light" as some would have it. One must dig deeper to flesh out his thinking. Unlike the ready-made answers from a lost church Graham presents a pathway of study for anyone willing to take up the work. In the end, it will be the serious student who provides the footnotes to Graham's book.
Rating: 
Summary: Deceptions and Myths of the Bible
Review: I read this book about 10 years ago, and actually want to re-read it and independently verify much of what is written there piece by piece. I don't think Christians should ignore this book, and should probably spend some time and some cyberspace critiquing and discussing its flaws, merits, and any misinformation. I get the feeling a lot of people have read it. Though I did like the book and found it to be thought-provoking, the main thing that makes me feel uncomfortable is that there is no biographical information on the author. I have searched web pages and news groups, but all I can find is more than a few quotes from this book, and others seeking information about the author him(her?)self, and the general reliability of his information. Obviously "Lloyd M. Graham" could be a pen name. However, the copyright is under simply "Lloyd Graham." Also disconcerting is the total lack of a bibliography. For a book which is written with a scholarly approach, there is little scholarly research cited! Other than the Bible, only a few other books are mentioned as sources, and only as footnotes at least in the edition I have. Graham spends a lot of time outlining what can easily be described as New Age cosmology. The zodiacal precession theory he uses is reminiscent of what Anthony Burgess used as the foundation for his book "The Wanting Seed" (also recommended). One way to make this palatable is to view the astrological beliefs as what the [i]ancients[/i] believed, not necessarily the author, thus giving the Bible an entirely different spin than what we're used to. Someone familiar with Gnosticism would probably be more at home with this work. It should, hopefully, be obvious that much of what he writes, especially concerning our solar system is just plain wrong, and is reminiscent of Carl Sagan's synopsis of Velikovsky's "Worlds in Collision". Still, how much would the ancients have known about what we know now? Again, the book is more readable if you imagine yourself living 3000 years ago or more. I don't see how anybody can realistically deny the influence of astrology in ancient religions, and be so stubborn as to deny a carry over of this symbolism into the Bible. Also, it seems that much of what Graham postulated is being increasingly supported or at least argued by modern biblical scholars, at least that's the impression I get. Graham's overall tone is angry, hostile, and contemptuous of whoever reads his book. He spends a huge chunk of his book towards the end with a scathing attack on the Roman Catholic Church, which seemed to me to be off-topic given the main subject matter. I have read some other New Age material, and Graham's book is far better than the usual pseudo-mystical fare. There is much meat; good argumentation (though little documentation), typical New Age word games (though interesting), a lot of stuff about the Bible itself and history that one may not be familiar with, and it gives the reader much to think about which is very rare in "bookdom". I would hope that if the author is still with us that he would rework it into a new, better edition with a proper bibliography and with an objective tone.
Rating:
Summary: Deceptions and Myths of the Bible
Review: I read this book about 10 years ago, and actually want to re-read it and independently verify much of what is written there piece by piece. I don't think Christians should ignore this book, and should probably spend some time and some cyberspace critiquing and discussing its flaws, merits, and any misinformation. I get the feeling a lot of people have read it. Though I did like the book and found it to be thought-provoking, the main thing that makes me feel uncomfortable is that there is no biographical information on the author. I have searched web pages and news groups, but all I can find is more than a few quotes from this book, and others seeking information about the author him(her?)self, and the general reliability of his information. Obviously "Lloyd M. Graham" could be a pen name. However, the copyright is under simply "Lloyd Graham." Also disconcerting is the total lack of a bibliography. For a book which is written with a scholarly approach, there is little scholarly research cited! Other than the Bible, only a few other books are mentioned as sources, and only as footnotes at least in the edition I have. Graham spends a lot of time outlining what can easily be described as New Age cosmology. The zodiacal precession theory he uses is reminiscent of what Anthony Burgess used as the foundation for his book "The Wanting Seed" (also recommended). One way to make this palatable is to view the astrological beliefs as what the [i]ancients[/i] believed, not necessarily the author, thus giving the Bible an entirely different spin than what we're used to. Someone familiar with Gnosticism would probably be more at home with this work. It should, hopefully, be obvious that much of what he writes, especially concerning our solar system is just plain wrong, and is reminiscent of Carl Sagan's synopsis of Velikovsky's "Worlds in Collision". Still, how much would the ancients have known about what we know now? Again, the book is more readable if you imagine yourself living 3000 years ago or more. I don't see how anybody can realistically deny the influence of astrology in ancient religions, and be so stubborn as to deny a carry over of this symbolism into the Bible. Also, it seems that much of what Graham postulated is being increasingly supported or at least argued by modern biblical scholars, at least that's the impression I get. Graham's overall tone is angry, hostile, and contemptuous of whoever reads his book. He spends a huge chunk of his book towards the end with a scathing attack on the Roman Catholic Church, which seemed to me to be off-topic given the main subject matter. I have read some other New Age material, and Graham's book is far better than the usual pseudo-mystical fare. There is much meat; good argumentation (though little documentation), typical New Age word games (though interesting), a lot of stuff about the Bible itself and history that one may not be familiar with, and it gives the reader much to think about which is very rare in "bookdom". I would hope that if the author is still with us that he would rework it into a new, better edition with a proper bibliography and with an objective tone.
Rating: 
Summary: It made me laugh, at least
Review: I'm trying to think of the last time I've read something so utterly lacking in logic and scholarship, and I'm falling short. It's actually embarrassing how ignorant and biased Graham is. From the first pages of his book he evidences a severe lack of hermanuetical understanding. For example - Graham points out that the use of the Hebrew word "Elohim" to decribe the Creator in Gen. 1:1 is literally "gods", thus he draws from that the idea that the Hebrew writers knew of many gods. What he fails to realize, and anyone who has studied a week of Hebrew understands, is that all pronouns that refer to "Elohim" are singular. This can be explained in two ways, neither of which exclude the other. First, to pluralize a singular noun in Hebrew was, sometimes, a way to show the greatness of that noun. Thus, to say 'gods' when meaning only one is acceptable. Second, the Christian idea of the Trinity, three in one, explains the seeming problem. This is just a sample of Grahams' errors -- on the first page!
Rating:
Summary: Oh God, this is bad.
Review: If books on D&D and crystal rubbing provide a substantial amount of meaning in your life, this book is the one for you. If you are less New Age and more interested in historical scholarship or "proof" when trying to be persuaded, this book is a total waste, save its comedic value. I cannot prove this, but I think Graham was loaded on psychadelic mushrooms when he wrote the 300 pages of undocumentable, comic-book-like, fantasy-physics. Had he even a remote knowledge of at least one academic field he encounters, he might feel a little embarasssed at what he wrote. I am embarrassed for not only him, but these other reviewers that claim to have been enlightened from his work. Nuts. If you wanna do some Bible bashing, go with the historical-critical method and its champions. At least they know some history and can read in Greek and Hebrew.
Rating: 
Summary: It looks scary, but...
Review: It's been a few years since I've read this book in my collection and I've read some fine titles of note since. Knowing what I know now, this book is fairly dangerous. Not only to the fundamentalist, but to the atheist, as well. To be blunt, there are no more footnotes or documented sources in this book than the Bible itself. To quote this book in a debate would be suicide. I will say that it's an extremely provocative piece. However, a full third of it (a New Age version of Treknobabble) left me in a state not unlike the way I formerly felt as a young Christian about why God created a world in which He had to sacrifice His Son then put the blame on us all - confused that I, perhaps, wasn't worthy to actually understand the concept in question. When I went looking for a bibliography... gasp! I was Wiley Coyote when the cliff had fallen out from under him. In my opinion, the author 's style is a bit aggessive... more like he's in a bar brawl than a discussion. My hunch is he's trying to obliterate opposition by just making them feel silly, rather than give them actual documented evidence to give them pause. Being a more mature posterchild for atheism these days, I would recommend this book for entertainment purposes only. It's an excellent Pandora's box of ideas for a thesis, too. Just don't use it as a model of scholarship. Or to back you up in a Bible fight.
Rating:
Summary: hilarious
Review: It's sad to see the sorts of the depths people will sink to, attempting to discount the Bible. Deceptions and Myths of the Bible is a perfect example.
In fact, it's probably one of the most ridiculous books I've ever read. "Lloyd Graham" (who, as others have noted, we know *nothing* about) rejects the Bible as far as being God's word, but in its place, he concots a very bizarre re-interpretation of the Scriptures. It seems he believes the Bible, when correctly interpreted, will support his ideas of how all planets were once suns, and how our own planet will become a sun.
It saddens me that there are actually positive reviews of this book. I can't imagine even New Agers taking this insanity seriously.
I'm not a fundamentalist Christian (as many who read this negative review might claim), in fact I am very familiar with legitimate, scholarly Biblical criticism and have read and own many books that challenge my position as a believer.
This, unfortunately, is neither legitimate nor scholarly.
Rating:
Summary: Gimme a break
Review: This book is about how the Bible is supposedly not "the Word of God" but a steal from Pagan sources. However those of us who have more than a passing familiarity with the Bible know that before the old covenant with Abraham and his decendents, all religions were "pagan" in that there was no "true religion" because God hadn't established one yet! After the Flood all humanity was gathered at the Tower of Babel. They all had the same "religion" in that they all possessed the same knowledge of Ultimate Truths and spirituality, which at that time was common knowledge. This book is a bit ironic in the sense that the title of the book would lead you to believe it's intention is to disprove the Bible as the true Word of God, but much of the evidence works to the opposite effect! One small example: The author uses the evidence that there are some four hundred accounts of Flood mythology in the world to show that the story did not originate with the Bible so it can't be the Word of God. Can you believe it? Of course the story did not originate with the Bible! If the Flood really happened--and it did--then many of the worlds cultures would have accounts of it--and they do! You see why I am confused.To me, one of the most convincing bits of evidence for Christianity and the Bible is how people will go far out of their way to try to argue them. If Christianity is false religion and the Bible a book of myths, then why would anyone waste so much time arguing it? If there was a group of people who believe the moon was made of cheese, would you spend all your time and energy trying to convince them otherwise? I doubt it. People who write Anti-Christian or Anti-Bible books or go to great lengths to argue them are Anti-Christians, which is a religion unto itself.
Rating:
Summary: Gimme a break
Review: This book is about how the Bible is supposedly not "the Word of God" but a steal from Pagan sources. However those of us who have more than a passing familiarity with the Bible know that before the old covenant with Abraham and his decendents, all religions were "pagan" in that there was no "true religion" because God hadn't established one yet! After the Flood all humanity was gathered at the Tower of Babel. They all had the same "religion" in that they all possessed the same knowledge of Ultimate Truths and spirituality, which at that time was common knowledge. This book is a bit ironic in the sense that the title of the book would lead you to believe it's intention is to disprove the Bible as the true Word of God, but much of the evidence works to the opposite effect! One small example: The author uses the evidence that there are some four hundred accounts of Flood mythology in the world to show that the story did not originate with the Bible so it can't be the Word of God. Can you believe it? Of course the story did not originate with the Bible! If the Flood really happened--and it did--then many of the worlds cultures would have accounts of it--and they do! You see why I am confused.To me, one of the most convincing bits of evidence for Christianity and the Bible is how people will go far out of their way to try to argue them. If Christianity is false religion and the Bible a book of myths, then why would anyone waste so much time arguing it? If there was a group of people who believe the moon was made of cheese, would you spend all your time and energy trying to convince them otherwise? I doubt it. People who write Anti-Christian or Anti-Bible books or go to great lengths to argue them are Anti-Christians, which is a religion unto itself.
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