The Encyclopedia of Lost and Rejected Scriptures: The Pseudepigrapha and Apocrypha Kindle Edition

The Fifth Estate Publishing Co. has a reputation of translating and compiling old texts, ensuring these books would continue to last the test of time. In order to make sure they will last, the public must have access to it in their native tongue. If you go to their website you'll find they are not only working to protect Jewish, Netzari (Nazarene Judaism, Messianic Judaism), Gnostic and early Christian writings, but they are also working on preserving books from the East.They present the facts in detailed introductions of every book in this massive compilation of forgotten scripture. Plus, they include quotes from other verses found in the canonically approved Bible, showing that indeed these lost books inspired what is found in the Bible. For example, The first Book of Enoch is sometimes quoted word-for-word throughout the Hebrew Bible and the writings of Yeshua's Talmidim (Jesus' Disciples). Of curse, you wouldn't know that unless you had access to Enoch 1. From my personal view, Yochanan's (John's) Book of Revelation is actually part two of Enoch 1. Enoch confirms what was seen by Yochanan, two witnesses to the same events (though sometimes described differently).If you are new to discovering the forgotten scriptures, here are a few things you should know:The KJV and NIV Bibles and others like it, are simply incomplete. They are the smallest, most condensed and altered versions you can find. Though the Catholic Bible is not my favorite version (nothing against Catholics), it includes some of the books that are found in this compilation. The next would the Greek Orthodox Bible which contains even more than the Catholic Bible. Ultimately, the Coptic Ethiopian Bible is the largest in the world with a total of 81 books. Don't worry, much of this compilation here on Amazon has the Ethiopic texts that have been concealed and hidden from the Holy Roman Empire - that's why they survived. People fear what they don't understand and book burning was the norm. Instead of reexamining their theology, dogma and interpretations it was more convenient to ban and outlaw books that questioned the status quo. Additionally, there is also the Septuagint. Complied by the Greek Diaspora (Jews living in Greece), it was the first translation of the Hebrew Bible into Greek with the Apocrypha. The Psalms of Solomon and the Odes of Solomon are not in this Encyclopedia but can be found in the Septuagint. Some compilations of the Apocrypha are bigger than others - example: The Story of Ahikar and all four Maccabees are not included in this Encyclopedia. (my other copy of the Apocrypha only has the first two Maccabees)If you buy this and wonder "where do I start?", I personally suggest you read the Book of Wisdom (Wisdom of Solomon) first. Before you read it, pray. Pray that G-D will guide you and that He opens your eyes, ears, hearts, minds and souls to see what G-D wants you to see and not dwell on the man-made dogma and traditions of interpreting. Pray that G-D's interpretation and intent of the book is revealed to you. This will only happen if you are willing, if you have a sincere heart you will come to know the Gift of the Spirit of Wisdom and Understanding, The Holy Spirit of Instruction and Truth. If you wonder where this incredible title comes from, unfortunately this massive compilation doesn't included every single missing book. It's a great collection, but the search isn't over - far from it. If you can, get a hold of a copy of The Apocryphal New Testament (sacred-texts.com) and read the Mary Hath Chapters and Protevangelion to find where the title comes from.I also suggest getting a copy of the Dead Sea Scrolls, you'll find the War Scroll is found both at Qumran and in the Coptic Ethiopian Bible. The Dead Sea Scrolls back up a lot in the book and vice-versa. If you consider yourself Christian, please find a copy of the Jewish New Testament or the Complete Jewish Bible to expand your understand of Israelite culture and understanding Torah. You cannot understand Yeshua without knowing Torah.Just a warning: If you read Enoch 3, you might be taken off guard. It is a very strange book and should be taken with a grain of salt. If you know anything about Talmud, Kabbalistic and Mystic Gnosticism, that is the relm of this particular text. Personally, I don't take any of those seriously. Talmud is rabbinical commentary and should not be taken 100% serious. Another secret book is the Testament of Solomon which echos the Talmud's claim of how King Solomon was able to control evil spirits with a magic ring to help build the Temple. The Hebrew Bible tells a different story of how the Temple came to be, but believers in Jewish Mysticism consider this fact. I personally don't by it for a minute, how could a Holy Temple be built by Holy Angels and evil spirits? A house divided against itself cannot stand, right? However, a counter point would be this - the Temple was built by both good and evil, which is why G-D allowed it to be destroyed as Yeshua predicted it would. Bare in mind that if you choose to get a copy of the Dead Sea Scrolls there are two things to look out for: The Watchers and the Shoddy Wall Builders. The Watchers are the fallen angels who laid with daughters of man and had offspring, the Nephilim. Note: The fallen angels and demons are not the same, demons are the souls of the Nephilim who past away in Noah's flood. In my mind the phrase "Shoddy Wall Builders" brings Freemasonry to mind. They do in fact claim to be the builders of Solomon's Temple, but "Shoddy" implies bad or fake. I'll stop there are let you think on your own about all of that. It's a lot to take in, go slow.This turned out longer than expected, but before I post there's one final thing:I mentioned there were other books to be found, if you would like to preview some of them before buying a hard copy there is a website called sacred-texts.com this is a free source to everything you could possibly imagine.Here's a quick review of books you might think about purchasing: The Encyclopedia of Lost and Rejected Scriptures: The Pseudepigrapha and Apocrypha, The Septuagint, The Aprocryphal New Testiment, The Dead Sea Scrolls, The Dead Sea Scrolls Bible, The Coptic Ethiopian Bible (if you can find it), The Greek Orthodox and Catholic Bibles (for cross referencing), The Jewish New Testament, The Complete Jewish BibleHopefully this review proves helpful to someone, happy hunting - always search for truth. Shalom

I had been looking for some sort of study related to the Apocrypha for quite a while. I considered this work as well as many others. Although this book is more of a self-guided study, I am very pleased with this choice.The author gives a brief history of each section and the text is easy to read in modern language. I read critical remarks due to the "Westernized" language, but it makes it much easier to read. Plus, I am reading it as added Scriptural background, not as canonical doctrine. The text does make me evaluate what I believe and adds a new dimension to God's word from a historic perspective. I like that the works of both the Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha are presented in one volume. The good quality tome is large and heavy with rather small font and single spacing of chapter text. It is 825 pages in total, so I understand why the font and spacing are what they are. Otherwise, the single volume would be massively cumbersome or separate volumes would be required. Although, I like printed material, if I were to re-order, I would purchase the electronic Kindle edition due to these factors.

Covers everything you can imagine. Print is small, but if it wasn't this book would be twice as thick. Very interesting, but really deep, and confusing. This is a book you really have to give full attention to when reading. Have bible available and Google to help, explain some of what's written. Interesting to see why these books were excluded. After all my studying I get the feeling if Christ were to return, the churches, temples, and religious palaces would be the first people to feel his wraith. I believe he would be extremely upset what they all have done in God, and his name. I can see where these excluded and destroyed gospels were a real threat to the rich and powerful church, even to this day. There's a lot of money in God ! That was not his message.

For completeness of works, you won't find a larger collection anywhere else. Unfortunately, the text is full of typos which render it a questionable resource at best. The commentary, while short in most places, is the most egregious, and is full of both spelling and grammar issues. This reads more like a first draft than a final product.The Kindle version (which I read) has made zero attempt to provide decent tools, and the entire work from end to end is one large continuous chapter as far as my device is concerned. It would have taken minimal effort to break each of the sections and individual books into their own chapters so that one could easily jump straight to the parts they are interested in.If the publisher would fix these two major issues, this would be a five star book, but as it stands now it cannot rate above a three.

I can't recommend this book enough. I have read through the Book of Adam and Eve part 1&2. It brings the human element and says that when children came they were different non identical twins. Cain twin sister then 5 seasons later Abel and sister. This sister of Abels was not single for a long time as she had to wait for Seth to come along and grow into manhood, as Cain killed his younger brother and thus her mate. The crafty Satan was continually tricking Adam by impersonating angels send by the Creator.Later on in part 2 it details the segregation between the descendants of Cain and those of Seth. Since Cain's banishment he took his sister and lived in exile all over the place. With Seth's group remaining in the Mountainous regions and the Cain's offspring lived below and would entice the other to leave the mountain to take part in sin and debauchery. The Mountain dwellers remained chaste and the other group increased greatly in number due to engaging in lusts, even marrying their own mothers, sisters and immediate cousins so that a there was no distinction of relations. I find this book just as engaging as The Book of Jasher as it fleshes out the all to human aspect of trying to be obedient to statues and commandments.

This book is a must for all minsters an bible students

Good content, just needs a table of contents in the ebook rather than just link page.

This book is great and has most if not all of the rejected books of the Bible, it gives you a better understanding

Interesting.