Romanism
During the early 4th Century AD, political influences of the Roman Empire married into Christianity and began to make an organisation of the Christian faith. What had been happening in the political world with the use of armies to subdue people or countries, then took on a more subtle approach under the guise of Christianity. It wasn't long before this organised religion grew, furthering its political and religious so called 'protection' and control in many countries.

There were of course many people opposed to this conquering force, and millions of lives were lost in battle through the years. Not until the sixteenth to eighteenth centuries did any remarkable changes take place, and it was during this time under the influences of reformers like Martin Luther and John Wesley that many began to break away from the 'Mother(ing)' church.

Through Luther, there was given an understanding that through believing a person was already 'justified', and it was under this knowledge of Scripture that the Protestants broke away from the Roman Catholic organisation. Within Christian religious circles there were then two obvious opposing forces. One asserted rule over the people by setting conditions, good deeds, punishments or penalties as a means of supposedly gaining entry to Heaven, while the other was totally opposed to what they plainly saw were false teachings contrary to the freedom spoken of in Scripture.

Often, the missionaries in New Zealand would have a tremendous desire and leading to introduce a further understanding of the God they knew to the Maori, and yet at the same time they were faced with this intellectual and political Christianity, that through using reasoning, was intent upon gaining the control and bondage of people's souls, minds and livelihoods. Colonialism, was merely a political side of the same conquering nature.

At the time of the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi, the initial good intent of the British Crown had already been influenced by the nature of those in the New Zealand Company. The spirit of the controlling Government would soon be seen to vigorously portray that same, out to conquer, Roman nature, and it therefore wasn't long before the seat of Government was moved from Auckland to Wellington, the town established by the New Zealand Company. This move was totally contrary to the leading given in the selection of Auckland for the seat of Government.

The religious differences were more clear cut in the 1840's and openly expressed, but as time has moved on, the mainstream religious and political movements have moved closer together in thought, working all towards the same end. The more they lean to 'their' way as being 'the' way, the more reliant they become upon their god of education, intellectual achievement, and science. This brings about, through the misuse of the Spiritual realm and nature, their inevitable destruction.

Defining Religious and Spiritual
For the purpose of these pages it is necessary to explain the author's definition of 'Spiritual' and 'Religious'.

People who read or quote the Bible, or works on God, gods or beliefs, may call themselves 'spiritual', however, the reading, quoting, educating, or intellectual understanding of those things is merely reading, quoting, etc. and is not Spiritual. It has nothing to do with being Spiritual. In Jesus of Nazareths time, some of the most educated theologians, that knew the Scriptures inside out, called Him a devil. So educated religion, the worship of ancestors, saints, gods or images, organised religions etc. fall into the category of 'Religious' as opposed to Spiritual.

Religion in Maoridom
Before the arrival of the European there can also be seen two factions of understanding in the country. The majority of people being more on the religious side, who deify, idolise, worship or pray to dead ancestors and others (as do the Roman religions!), but apart from that, there were also those that respected a higher Order, or who were more aware of a Creator.

To the Spiritual mind, the new understanding of how the cycle of death was broken, and the subsequent resurrection would have been an absolute Godsend. That the Maori had a desire for an understanding in this area was expressed at the time. Even the story of Maui tells of how he attempted to enter back into a womb to seek an answer to the problem of death.

It has often been said that the Biblical God is a 'pakeha', 'white' or 'Colonial' God, but this is very far from the truth. The Spiritual Maori worshipped exactly the same God as written of in the Bible, as do the Spiritual European, however it is the false portrayal of the True Gospel, portrayed as being 'Christianity', that is stumbling the people.

On the religious side, the habit of worshipping images or gods by the Maori, is not any different to what is seen throughout world history and in other cultures. The major god's or deities were generally not figments of the imagination, but are names given to mortal humans, or exaggerated acts attributed to those that once existed, the same persons whom the original Babylonian gods were named after.

The whole picture and mystery surrounding these gods can be exposed through gaining an understanding of who they originally were and how they obtained their status. The study of this subject may seem vast, but it is not so, and the outcome is very simple. It can be seen that what appears to be myriads of deities, which all emanate from some mystical obscurity, don't do that at all. In fact the names or titles given to these gods, like Jupiter, Venus, Saturn, Hermes etc. all link back to a few ungodly, mortal individuals. Likewise, a study of the Maori gods, and the meanings of their names, will provide a picture that will end up with corresponding origins.

© G.S. Williams 2001etc    All Rights Reserved