Alexander Smith 
The Holiest Lie Ever [EPUB ebook] 
Glorified by Myths, Mysticism, Symbolism, Rituals and Traditions.

I was born in Cullinan, Gauteng, in South Africa and am the youngest of four children. I was raised in a strictly religious family. The Christian religious sect that I was born into was all I knew while I was growing up, and therefore I entered into various positions within the church structure, even practicing as a minister at one point. I spent most of my life until my late twenties in the service of the church.
Through my studies I had the privilege to travel the world, and little did I know that soon my world would emphatically change. I happened to be in Egypt during one of my travels, and being a Christian at the time, I was interested in tracing the paths and history of Christianity. Keep in mind that I was a very staunch Christian at the time that I was in Egypt. I stumbled upon many contradictions and myths that related directly to Judaism and Christianity.
The more I looked and the deeper I got into all these shocking aspects, the more troubled and disturbed I started to feel. I decided that I wanted to prove that Christianity is the true religion of God, but my mind had been conditioned since I can remember; it was, therefore, extremely difficult for me to accept and understand these facts that I had uncovered. At first I was offended and shocked; this turned into anger and outrage until I started to accept and understand the truth. It was not too late to live and strive for the actual truth, even though I had been misled for so many years.
I have experienced my fair share of trials and tribulations in my own life; I have never and will never intend to make out as if I have had it easy because I have found the truth. The truth makes sense of many life experiences; it allows you to accept and move on, striving towards the future.
To my astonishment I discovered that many religions shared the same origins and others adopted, altered, and modified the content of other religions either to benefit their own religion or to discredit others.
When I started understanding the truth, I was excited and anxious to discuss it with anyone and everyone that came into contact with me, but I soon realized that people did not want me to tell them about these facts because they felt threatened and uncomfortable; they felt that I was challenging their religion in a negative light. Soon people started labeling me as the Antichrist. At first it used to upset me immensely because that simply was not true. I have always and will always believe and know that God exists; He just is not what you believe Him to be.
Do you know, for the first time I was able to actually see what was happening around me? I was no longer blinded by faith or manipulated by religion. I started to see how many of the world’s religions and churches were misleading people, how they were manipulating their members and followers by using these myths and lies to deceive people. It was hard to believe that I had never noticed this before.
I eventually found a like-minded partner in my life that was searching for the truth, Liza-Mari. We got together under the strangest of circumstances and started putting parts of my research into the form it is today. This book has been made possible out of our passion and drive to get the truth out to the masses.
The main purpose of this book is to open the eyes of everyone that has been deceived over the years by their religion, their religious leaders, and their churches. Everyone deserves to be given the opportunity to know the truth, to live their lives in the best positive and free way. Everyone has a task that they need to fulfill in their lives; everyone is unique and everyone can be the best, positive, loving, and good people that they can be. Religion is the largest stumbling block to spiritual growth, and people need to be made aware of this.
May you, the reader, become enlightened with the knowledge and truth within these pages. Let us take those blindfolds off, for yourself and the greater good of society.