A Semiology That Holds All Religions Together: A Case Study Among Ethnic Kyrgyz

VI International Festival of World Epics of the Nations · September 22-25, 2021, Bishkek

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Abstract

Spiritual cosmology cannot be understood by a modern, materialistic cosmology. A materialistic cosmology cannot see the spiritual meaning of indigenous symbols and images. The Torah, famous for its use of signs and symbols, is part of a larger anthology referred to as the Script in this study. Symbolism from this Script has spread to all nations through the VIII-Century BCE dispersion of Israel’s tribes. Almost 2800 years later diverse nations follow the signage back to the old Script and its protagonist, the mysterious messiah. Messianic typologies among many ethnicities are numerous. The primary messianic candidate, Isa, also known as Jesus or Yeshua, lived and taught as a nationalistic Jew, but once he was raised to heaven (an image captured in the Semetey Epic of ethnic Kyrgyz), he exudes patriotism for each nation by embodying each nation’s legendary sage, exemplified beautifully by Kyrgyzstan’s Wanderer, the Kydyr. One contributor to the Anthology’s later sections, known as the Injil or New Testament, expands on Isa’s multi-ethnic, messianic role by forbidding religious conversion on the basis that the messianic protagonist is close to everyone within their own national and social context. People who trust the messiah are not to change religions, but remain as they are. Observation of this spiritual creed would have saved many cultures that have either been wrongly absorbed by Abrahamic religions or have been separated from the Script and have therefore lost connection with the deeper spiritual value of their own culture. The Script, if applied properly, highlights and regenerates the beauty and mystifying revellence of ancient cultures (Matthew 5:17).

Theology of Semiology

A Case Study Among Ethnic Kyrgyz

The timeless Script, known by various names (The Many-Book Book or Chaar Kiteb, Allah’s Earlier Revelations, The Library or Bible, The Word, The Lost Book, The Message, etc) is a treasure of symbols, signs, and typologies from humanity’s spiritual past. It is a semiotic trove for artists, authors, and innovators (Mangalwadi, 2011). In the opening scenes, humanity’s parent’s, made in our Maker’s “image”, were deceived to disobey their Maker and eat from the Tree Of The Knowledge Of Good And Evil. “You will become like God,” was the snake’s promise (Genesis 3). As a consequence of their disobedience, our parents were thrown out of God’s garden and forced to work the soil. Outside the garden their cosmology was devoid of spirituality. Modern academia is no different: they observe the earth and science at the expense of the Script’s symbolic spirituality instead of viewing it through the Script’s cosmology (Pageau, 2018).

Kyrgyzstan, viewed from the Script’s cosmology, provides a classic semiotics case-study with its culture, traditions, epics, and folk faith. My previous essays highlight the parallels between Kyrgyz and the Script’s Hebrew Patriarchs (2006, 2011). These commonalities form an interpretable sign for those viewing them through the Script’s spiritual lens. Such parallels in multiple cultures are expected when considering the Script’s early foreshadowing of ancient Israel’s inoculation or seeding of all nations (Deuteronomy 28). As predicted, Assyria’s eighth century BCE war against Israel’s northern tribes caused the tribes to disperse to the nations: first, by sea via the Phoenicians and Carthagians, and then by land via the Scythian-Saka and Parthians (Collins, 1995). Fleeing Israelites were also told to leave “signs'' to help them find their way “home” (Jeremiah 31). In 2011, I presented an essay at Kyrgyzstan’s presidential palace claiming Kyrgyzstan’s Semetey Epic was one of these ancient signs. I reasoned that the “Semetey” sign is to be interpreted by those adhering to the Script’s cosmology, which is portrayed by Semetey’s ascension into heaven. If the Script’s perspective can be trusted, elements of the ancient Script and its twelve Israelite tribes should be found in other nations, just as they are found among ethnic Kyrgyz.

Reviewing semiotics among Kyrgyz - the Kyrgyz hero “Manas son of Jakyb” resembles Manasseh son of Jacob, one of the Script’s twelve tribal fathers. The Kyrgyz Jakyb and the Script’s Jacob have a convincing list of undeniable similarities which I presented at the First International Festival of World Epics in Bishkek (2006). The Script’s last recording of Manasseh’s tribe, before they went “missing” historically, is on the Silk Road close to Bukhara (1 Chronicles 5). Jusup Mamai (1995, p.7) traces early Kyrgyz history to Bukhara in his version of the Manas Epic. Likewise, a few Jewish organizations are looking for the Lost Tribes of Israel on the Silk Road.

Asian and African scholars have also found Hebraic roots among Afghans, Kashmiris, Ethiopians, China’s Qiang, Nigeria’s Igbo, Southeast Asia’s Mizo and Karen, and Japanese Shintos, who, according to Joseph Eidelberg (2005, p. 38), traveled through Kyrgyzstan’s Lake Issyk Kol region enroute to Japan. Diverse nations see the Script as their “lost book” (Crossing, Margot, 2019). Others follow a pattern linking their culture to the Script or to Israel or to the messiah (Richardson, 1984). All these and many more peoples have parallels to characters, events, traditions, and/or messianic types pointing to earth’s most translated Script (Worthy, Beth. 2021). Nations are not returning to their Mongolian, Mayan, Celt, Arab, or Scythian origins even though academic arguments could be made for each. Material-based or earthly arguments do not resonate or preserve culture like a spiritually-based understanding. Signs and symbols linking cultural legends and customs to the Script’s God bring people “home”. This homecoming event is depicted as a vast multitude of people gathered from every nation, language and tribe. This multiethnic multitude, composed of those who maintain their distinct differences, is held together by the messiah (Revelation 7).

The Script was written over a period of 1500 years. Earlier sections give images and pictures of coming events and a coming hero, known as messiah. In the scene discussed earlier, we are told that Mother Eve’s seed will crush the head of the snake and the snake will bite her seed’s heel. Countless pages have been written about this image of a wounded but victorious descendant of Eve. Additional images add color and depth to the Script’s foreshadowing of a coming messiah. Later parts of the Script put pieces of the messianic puzzle together when a virgin gives birth to a deliverer who is destined to suffer. Isa, also known as Jesus or Yeshua, is the seed of Eve but not

¹Adam: Miriam (Mary) was a virgin. Islam’s Qur’an confirms this messianic conception, adding that Miriam’s son would be a sign for all nations (21:91). Other messianic images predating but finding fulfillment in Isa are: Tree of Life, Lamb of God, Suffering Servant, Light of the World, Living Water, Noah’s Ark, Tent of God, Bread of Heaven, Desire of Nations, Morning Star, etc. As the culmination of so many Jewish titles and pictures, Isa can be considered the ultimate Jew. He is the fulfillment of Jewish culture; and one can argue that he was a nationalistic Jew (Brown, 2015). But similar symbolism abounds all over the world: titles, positions, characters, obscure legendary saints, mythological persons, gods, or angelic types are all emblematic of the same historic person. In other words, Isa steps into a variety of national symbols and cultures just as he does in the written Script. He is not one of many typologies; he is the culmination of multiple national typologies. When Isa ascended from earth to heaven, he took on a nationalistic persona for every nation and culture - for each of Adam and Eve’s children.

Likewise, I consider the risen Isa to be the ultimate Kyrgyz patriot. The Kydyr of Kyrgyzstan, for example, is a legendary figure in Kyrgyz beliefs and legends. He has a long list of characteristics that identify him with Isa in a Kyrgyz setting as a rescuer, helper, blesser, traveling guardian, etc (Hewitt, 2011, 2012). The Kydyr’s most prominent identifying mark is the soft spot, wound, or hole in his hand. It is the same identification Isa’s friend needed to verify Isa’s post-resurrection identity (John 20-21).

The Kydyr’s “ID” matches Isa’s perfectly. Likewise, in Altai, Shunu will return on a white steed. The same imagery is used of Isa’s return in the Script’s final act, making Isa the patriot of Altai folk faith just as he is of Judaism’s messianic hopes and Kyrgyz legends. Among the former cannibalistic headhunters of Papua New Guinea, Isa is equated with heaven’s Peace Child, who was offered to bring peace between God and humanity (Richardson, 2005). Among the Qiang, Isa fulfills Je-Dsu’s sin-bearing at the tree (Torrance, 1998, p. 89). His Sikh followers call him the Sat Guru. His Hindu followers call him Muktinath. Islam also has several unique titles for Isa including Mesix, a title given to no other. This endless list of international roles fulfilled by Kydyr Isa gives credence to several themes in the Script, including the previously mentioned “seeding of nations.” The Script presents images and titles of the messiah as a wounded ruler over all nations, the ultimate protagonist for all humanity, a mantle Isa wears perfectly among multiple faiths. Isa’s universal message, resonating among diverse ethnicities, validates the identities of all those made in God’s image. Religious conversion, however, does the opposite, conforming people to a foreign image which conflicts with the object of so many culturally regenerative signs, symbols, and typologies. Multiple faiths and cultures culminate in the same protagonist. Legends, faiths, and traditions are preserved in this singularly diverse person. His multi-nationalistic role, as ascended hero over humanity, is itself symbolized by Joseph, a man in the Script who suffered, was thrown in a pit (depicting burial) and was then raised as savior of nations (Genesis 36-40). He wore a coat of many colors, symbolizing the flags (colors) of the nations which Joseph saved. Joseph himself was a prototype of the coming multi-ethnic messiah.

The Script is an anthology, a collection of many works. Later sections state clearly that people should not change their religion when they acknowledge Isa as history’s climax (Galatians). There is no messianic precedent to convert to a foreign religion. After Isa was killed, buried, and raised to heaven, one contributor forbade Western Greeks from getting circumcised and converting to Judaism (1 Corinthians 9), which is the faith where Isa first revealed his capacity to fulfill ancient and nationalistic signs. In other words, as the peak of Jewish symbolism, Isa’s example provided a template for Greeks just as Israel’s example did for America’s founders (Langdon, 1788). The Greeks could learn and then apply Isa’s example to their own culture. Such application honored the foreign Greek culture and produced a healthy level of nationalistic pride. Paul encouraged this when he used a Greek altar and Greek poetry to promote Isa among the Stoic philosophers at the Areopagus in Athens (Acts 17). Paul and his cohorts successfully used Greek signs and symbols. Unfortunately, Western Christendom countered the template’s importance by converting people and enlarging their own numbers at the expense of many ancient cultures and their holy signs. On a positive note, Christendom eventually succeeded in translating the Script into the vernacular of local populations, which honored and preserved languages.

Kyrgyz value the symbolism of their yurt’s tunduk or smoke hole. It is in the sun on the Kyrgyz flag. Since it was obviously important, I asked Kyrgyz why it was sacred. “It is the light of our world. Light comes to us through the tunduk,” I was told. Not surprisingly, Isa said he is “The Light of the World” (John 8). The second person I asked told me the smoke hole (tunduk) represented the head of society. Their yurt’s lattice walls represent women at the lower part of society. Beams, extending from the top of the lattice walls to the tunduk, symbolize men. The tunduk at the top portrayed God or the elder who is above all. This answer also matched the Script’s image of Isa as head over the body or community (Colossians 1). The third time I asked about the tunduk, the yurt’s host said the tunduk holds the whole yurt together. All the beams are held by it. This imagery aligns with the Script’s reference of Messiah as Chief Corner Stone (Isaiah 28), the stone to which all parts of a house are connected. Such imagery endorses the picture of international unity through Isa, not through religion, ideology, politics, or force. On this note, Kyrgyz yurts far surpass any religious building as a place of worship (Рысбек, 2006). If Kyrgyz had been Christianized, the identity markers that dignify Kyrgyz as spiritually unique would have been lost, and their divine culture would have been reduced to scientific observation and cultural platitudes.

If Isa is worthy of titles and honors like Kydyr, Peace Child, Mesix, al-Khidr, Sat Guru, Je-Dsu, etc. among diverse cultures, then there is no need to replace those titles with Western titles like Christ, which are meaningless to non-Christians. The name and title, Jesus Christ, contradicts the Script’s incarnational message among non-Christian ethnicities. The title and name, Kydyr Isa, however, awakens a Kyrgyz soul to the presence of a familiar, ancestral God. Kyrgyz have no need to change religions. They are held in position with the other Isa-believing ethnicities by the “tunduk”. Religious communities that convert others from one faith community to another are breaking from the Script’s international, cross-cultural, multi-faith plot. They have no need of Isa (Galatians 5), who is over all and holds all together. They are destroying humanity’s colorful diversity like Joseph’s brothers who tore and stained the multicolored coat (Genesis 37). Instead, we are to encourage ethnic Sawi to “honor the Peace Child,” or bless Kyrgyz to walk with their Kydyr, who is known as their “road-partner” (жолдош).

During the early 2000s, I went to a high mountain village in Kyrgyzstan and asked some young men to introduce me to the one individual who knew Kyrgyz culture better than the others. They took me to an elder who welcomed me into his home. After pleasant introductions, I asked him if I could show him passages from the Script. He said he wouldn’t touch the book for fear of polluting his ancestral line, so instead, I asked him about Kyrgyzstan’s God Guest (кудай конок) custom. He told me how God could walk into someone’s camp or village. Kyrgyz always had to be ready to welcome God just as my host had welcomed me. After chatting, I asked if I could read that God-guest tradition from the forbidden Script. He agreed as long as he didn’t have to touch the book. I read a section that describes Abraham welcoming God and two angels (Genesis18). This section captures Kyrgyz tradition so perfectly that the astounded elder grabbed the book from me to verify its authenticity. I grabbed the Script back to show him the next passage: Jacob holding on to the angel just as Kyrgyz are taught to hold onto the Kydyr (Genesis 32). This passage introduces several Kyrgyz concepts of the Kydyr. Again, the elder was shocked to hear minute details of Kyrgyz faith from the “foreign” text. He wrestled the book from me a second time and read the passage himself. He was engrossed, but I pulled the book away from him in order to show more passages that tie it all together by linking Isa to the God-Guest and Kydyr traditions we had just read. The elder discovered his legends in history’s most venerated Script and followed that path to Kydyr Isa. When I left, the thirsty elder begged me for a copy of the old Script. He couldn’t get enough. Within 40 minutes, he turned from fearing the “cursed book” to thirsting for a copy. Why? Because the Script, its protagonist, and its God regenerated his Kyrgyz faith by interpreting his culture. He had found his spiritual home; something no academic could give him. Religious conversion was not relevant: he had found his ancestral God.

In conclusion, the international Script’s multi-faith protagonist, in the context of this thesis’ anti-conversion interpretation, protects and adds life to cultures and their distinct symbols and signs that define each unique ethnic group and ultimately point to a spiritual home. This study expanded on earlier research interpreting ethnic symbols among Kyrgyz. Mounting evidence shows Kyrgyz are not alone. Nations around the world have signs and symbols that link them with the ancient Script and its famed protagonist. Unfortunately, Christianity and other Abrahamic religions have often disobeyed the Script just as our original parents did. Like those cast from the garden, Christianity lost its ability to interpret the very signs that would have enforced Christianity’s original essence. Conversion degenerated the patriotic aspect of those made in God’s multifaceted image. That trend can change if people decide to interpret cultural symbolism with the Script’s spiritual lens.

References

Brown, Michael; The Real Kosher Jesus; Revealing the Mysteries of the Hidden Messiah (Frontline, 2012)
Chen, Ester, The Hidden Qiang, “Sons of Sheep” (Electronic Version, Sichuan, Chengdu, China, 2012)
Collins, Steven M. The Ten Lost Tribes of Israel… Found! (CPA Books, 1995) Crossing, Margot; Connecting Northeast India to Central Asia through Oral Tradition, (World Epic Festival, Scientific Symposium, Bishkek, 2019)
Eidelberg, Joseph, Biblical Hebrew Origin of the Japanese People (Gefen Publishing House, Jerusalem, Israel, 2005) p. 38
Girard, René, Things Hidden Since the Foundation of the World (Stanford University Press, 1987)
Givens, John, The Image of Christ in Russian Literature; Dostoyevsky, Tolstoy, Bulgakov, Pasternak (Cornell University Press, 2021)
Hewitt, Richard (Risbek); A Comparative Analysis of Kyrgyz Jakyb and Jacob the Prophet (First International Festival of Epics, Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, 2006) Hewitt, Richard (Risbek); Кыдыр - Тизме, Scribd.com
https://www.scribd.com/doc/115591197/К-ы-д-ы-р-Т-и-з-м-е
Khalidi, Tarif; The Muslim Jesus: Saying and Stories in Islamic Literature (Harvard University Press, 2001)
Langdon, Samuel, “The Republic of the Israelites an Example to the American States” (a sermon) (Concord, New Hampshire, General Court, June 5, 1788.) Lencke, Scott (March 20, 2018) Muslim Followers of Isa (Jesus)? The Prodigal Thought https://prodigalthought.net/2018/03/20/muslim-followers-of-isa-jesus/ Mangalwadi, Vishnu; The Book That Made Your World: How the Bible Created the Soul of Western Civilization (Thomas Nelson, 2011)
Mamai, Jusup, The Kyrgyz People’s Historical Epic - Manas, told by Jusup Mamai (XingJian People’s Publisher, Urumchi, China, 1995) p. 7
Pageau, Mattieu, The Language of Creation, Cosmic Symbolism in Genesis, Commentary (Pageau, Mattieu, Kindle Edition, 2018) pp. 10-14
Parrinder, Geoffrey, Jesus in the Qur’an (Oneworld Publications, Oxford, 1995) Richardson, Don, Eternity in Their Hearts (Regal Books, Ventura, CA, USA, 1984) Richardson, Don, Peace Child (Bethany House, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA, 2005) Torrance, Thomas, China’s First Missionaries; Ancient Israelites (2nd edition, Chicago, Illinois (Daniel Show Publisher, 1988)
Worthy, Beth. 12 Most Translated Books Across the World, gmrtranscription.com https://www.gmrtranscription.com/blog/most-translated-books-across-world 2021 Хевитт, Ричард (Рысбек), Семетей, Кыргыз Каганат Конференсия (2012 / 2011) https://www.scribd.com/doc/113718283/Семетей

Script References

• Genesis 1-2: These chapters are the introduction. Adam and Eve are made in God’s image. They are placed in the garden with the Tree of Life which is symbolic of the messiah.

• Genesis 3: Adam and Eve disobey God and eat from the
  Tree-of-the-Knowledge-of-Good-and-Evil. The snake is told that Eve’s seed will crush his head, but he will strike the heel. Then they are cast out of the garden and develop an earth-based existence, tilling the land with the sweat of Adam. The imagery in this opening chapter is one of the first of many that were gathered for over 1000 years - all pointing to a hidden messiah.

• Genesis 6-9: Noah’s Ark is an image of messiah’s protection rising above divine judgment. The Qur’an infers this imagery in Surah 55. The inference also links to Islamic concepts of al-Khidr in Surah 18.

• Genesis 12: Abraham, the father of Abrahamic religions, was promised that he would be the father of many nations. This chapter is often considered a hinge between the age of chaos and the age of faith or Torah. The next great hinge came when messiah started the messianic age. Judaism states that each age has been about 2000 years.

• Genesis 18: Abraham welcomes the God-guest. This chapter is basic for Kyrgyzstan’s God-guest custom.

• Genesis 32: Jacob wrestles and holds onto the angel like Kyrgyz are told to hang onto Kydyr.

• Genesis 36-40: Joseph is a prototype of the coming messiah. Joseph also fathers Manasseh.

• Exodus 12: Lamb of God. The lamb was killed and its blood put on the doorposts to keep death away from the home. This is symbolic of the protection messiah offers by his sacrifice and spilt blood. Israelites ate the whole lamb through the night like many Kyrgyz do to this day.

• Numbers 24, Job 38, Revelations 22: Morning Star

• Deuteronomy 28: Prediction that Israel will seed the nations.

• 1 Chronicles 5: Manasseh’s Tribe taken to Hara which is similar to Bukhara.

• Psalm 27: David calls the Lord his light.

• Isaiah 9 describes a child who will rule and be called Mighty God and Prince of Peace. This syncs perfectly with the Sawi concept of Peace Child and their title for Isa.

• Isaiah 28: Chief Cornerstone

• Isaiah 53: Coming messiah would be a suffering servant.

• Isaiah 42: Light of the World. God says he will turn the darkness before them into light.

• Jeremiah 31: Scattered Israel is encouraged to leave signs along their way. They are then called to return.

• Ezekiel 47and John 4: Living Water

• Daniel 2: God reveals deep and hidden things; he knows what is in the darkness, and the light dwells with him.

• Haggai 2: Desire of Nations

• Matthew 9: New wine bursts old wineskins. This quote undergirds many discussion points.

• Luke 1: Miriam is impregnated by the breath or spirit of God, a concept verified in Islam’s Qur’an. This miraculous conception introduces the concept of incarnation. Incarnation (God coming to us as we are) conflicts with erroneous concepts of conversion that coerce us to become like one form of humans.

• Luke 2 portrays Sawi concepts of the Peace Child. (Isaiah 9)

• John 1-2: Isa - culmination of God’s House, a place where God dwelt with humanity.

• John 4: Living Water. Isa also comes across as nationalistic in this chapter.

• John 8: Light of the World

• John 20-21: Isa’s friend needs to put his finger in Isa’s wounded hand before he can believe. This mirrors the Kydyr’s identifying mark for Kyrgyz.

• Acts 1: Isa’s ascension from earth to heaven. This is the transitional point between Isa being a nationalistic Jew to a patriot of every nation.

• Acts 17: Paul debates the Stoic Philosophers in Athens

• I Corinthians 9: Remain in your religious context. If you are uncircumcised, don’t get circumcised, and vis-à-vis.

• Galatians 1-6: No religious conversion to a foreign religious system. Anyone who does has no need of the messiah; the religious system will carry him.

• Colossians 1: The One above all who holds all together.

• Revelation 7: multiethnic multitude returned “home”

• Revelation 19: Isa returns from heaven on a white steed, just like Shunu in Altai folk traditions.

Notes

1. Isa’s conception opens the door to the topic of incarnation - God coming to us in our context. We don’t change to meet God. God transforms to meet us. This can be used as an argument against religious conversion. ↩