This article is contributed by Ray Konig, the author of Jesus the Messiah, Jesus the Prophet, Jesus the Miracle Worker, and 100 Fulfilled Bible Prophecies.
By Ray Konig
Published: March 11, 2025
Revised: March 16, 2025
This article is a response to claims that are presented in the movie, Heretic, which was released in 2024.
These include the following claims:
This article will address each of these claims and explain the following:
Each of these points will be addressed in detail, in the order in which they are listed above. But first, let’s begin with an overview of the movie.
Heretic is a well-scripted, well-acted movie in which two young women, who are door-to-door advocates for a religion (Mormonism), are drawn into a dark and dangerous game of cat-and-mouse by a homeowner named Mr. Reed. It is not a movie for everyone’s sensibilities or tastes. Reading online reviews and descriptions, via imdb.com and other sites, is a useful way to research movies before watching them.
How good is the acting? If Hollywood ever wanted to take a break from making really bad decisions about who should win an Oscar, the main actors in this movie -- Hugh Grant, Sophie Thatcher and Chloe East -- offer three really good chances for redemption. Then there’s some excellent camera work and razor-sharp editing, especially during the middle of the movie.
During the movie, Mr. Reed, attempts to challenge the beliefs of the two young women with the claim that today’s religions, including Christianity, Islam and Mormonism, are copies of previous traditions.
During a key part of the movie, Mr. Reed specifically addresses Jesus and claims that there is nothing unique about him, that Jesus is merely a copy of earlier traditions:
“The story of a savior, who was born to a virgin, who could perform miracles, and was supernaturally resurrected, was a very popular story for at least a thousand years before Jesus was born.
“Mithras, he performed miracles. He was marked by the sign of the cross. Horus, walked on water, was crucified, had 12 disciples. Krishna, he was a carpenter, born to a virgin, baptized in a river, rose from the dead, and ascended into heaven.
“This little gallery [which is shown in the movie] depicts 12 gods who were born on December the 25th, all of whom predate the existence of Jesus.” - Mr. Reed, from the movie Heretic.
With these powerful claims, Mr. Reed seeks to challenge the beliefs of the two young women who are listening to him, by suggesting that Jesus is a copycat of various pre-Christian religious figures, including Mithras, Horus and Krishna.
This, of course, is a fictional movie that features fictional characters in a fictional story. It should not be faulted for having a fictional character who says fictional things. Even so, the quotes above do provide an opportunity to address the fictional claims as they relate to Jesus and Christianity.
These claims, by the way, do not originate with this movie, but have been around for about 200 years.
Beginning a few centuries ago, during the 1800s, a number of authors, who collectively are called “mythicists,” began popularizing the claim that Christianity is a copycat religion, that it borrowed from earlier traditions, that there is nothing unique about the story of Jesus, and that Christianity is therefore a false religion.
The most influential authors, or mythicists, of this particular movement include:
All of these authors have several things in common, including:
That last point is crucially important, as in c r u c i a l l y important. If, for example, there are no pre-Christian writings, or any other type of pre-Christian evidence, to suggest that Horus walked on water, was crucified, or had 12 disciples, then it would be false to say that Horus walked on water, was crucified, or had 12 disciples. It would be fiction. It would be a lie.
And, as it so happens, there is no pre-Christian evidence of any kind, whatsoever, that Horus walked on water, was crucified, or had 12 disciples. Even so, the mythicist authors routinely make these claims, and other claims like them, without any factual basis.
For that matter, there is no pre-Christian information that associates Mithras with miracles or with being marked with the sign of the cross. And Krishna was not a carpenter, he was not born of a virgin, he was not baptized in a river, and he is not associated with resurrection in any way that would resemble the Bible’s concept of resurrection.
It is one thing for a fictional character in a fictional movie to say something fictional. But, it is entirely a different thing for authors, such as Alexander Hislop, Kersey Graves, Gerald Massey, James Frazer, and Acharya S, to make false claims and pass them off as being true to gullible, unsuspecting readers, who lack the ability to think for themselves, despite calling themselves “free-thinkers.”
And now, back to the movie.
Mr. Reed presents Judaism as being the original monotheistic religion and then claims that Christianity is merely an “iteration” of Judaism. The character also claims that the post-Christian monotheistic religions of Islam and Mormonism are merely “iterations” of Christianity and Judaism.
In other words, the fictional character, Mr. Reed, is claiming that today’s monotheistic religions do not actually have any real authority because they are merely copycat religions that borrowed from earlier traditions.
To make his point, Mr. Reed shows the two young women a board game called The Landlord’s Game, which was patented by Elizabeth Magie in 1904. He then shows them a newer board game, Monopoly, which was designed by Charles Darrow, and was first published in 1935. Mr. Reed explains that Monopoly is an “iteration” of The Landlord’s Game, that it is a reworked copy of that earlier game. He then shows other board games that are “iterations” of the Monopoly game.
By way of this comparison, Mr. Reed is claiming that Christianity is a reworked copy of Judaism and that newer monotheistic religions are reworked copies of Christianity and Judaism.
This talk of iterations is presented and handled in an impressively creative and effective way by the script writers for the movie, Heretic. And, as it so happens, this part of the script is itself an iteration, albeit a superior one, of the ideas and claims that were popularized by the mythicist authors, such as Kersey Graves.
So, is Christianity an iteration of Judaism as claimed by the fictional character Mr. Reed? Or, is Christianity an iteration of earlier mythologies as claimed by the mythicist authors, such as Kersey Graves?
The answer to both questions is no. And this can be established in a factual way.
Christianity is explained and defined by the New Testament. Some people believe in the New Testament and some people do not. It doesn’t matter which camp a person belongs in, the definition of Christianity comes from the New Testament. And the ideas and concepts expressed in the New Testament come from the Old Testament.
Christianity is not an iteration of Judaism, instead it is the fulfillment of the promises and prophecies of the Old Testament, as explained in the New Testament.
The Old Testament, on which Judaism is based, contains more than 300 prophecies about a chosen one, a savior, who is commonly to referred to as the Messiah or Christ. These two words, respectively, come from the Hebrew and Greek languages, and they both mean anointed, as in anointed to be the savior of the world.
Collectively, these Old Testament prophecies foretold that the Messiah would suffer and die for the sins of the world, be resurrected, ascend into heaven, then return in the future for Judgment Day, and reign eternally over the Kingdom of God, which is also known as Kingdom of Heaven, or simply as heaven.
The New Testament explains that Jesus is the fulfillment of these Old Testament prophecies, that he is the fulfillment of the promises made by the Old Testament, and that he is the savior whom God had promised to bring into the world.
In other words, the formation of Christianity about 2,000 years ago was not an attempt to replace Judaism or to become a new “iteration” of Judaism. Instead, it positions itself as the continuation of the Old Testament and as the fulfillment of the Old Testament’s promises and prophecies.
In fact, every major detail in the life of Jesus, including his lineage, birth, ministry, rejection, persecution, crucifixion, resurrection, ascension and impact were foretold by the prophets of the Old Testament. There is not a single important detail involving Jesus, or Christianity, that was not foretold by the Old Testament.
In other words, every major detail about Jesus traces its roots back to the Old Testament. Jesus is not a copycat of any pre-Christian pagan figure. Instead, he is the fulfillment of the promises and prophecies of the Old Testament.
During the course of the movie, Mr. Reed challenges the beliefs of the two young women by claiming that there were many pre-Christian religious figures who were born to virgin mothers, and that the story of Jesus was copied from these earlier stories.
As mentioned previously in this article, this claim is not being invented by the movie, but is one that has been popularized since the 1800s, by Kersey Graves and other mythicist authors.
There are two major problems with this claim that various gods were born to virgin mothers:
About 700 years before Jesus was born in Bethlehem, a prophet named Isaiah gave a prophecy that the Messiah would be born to a young woman who was a soon-to-be married virgin:
13 He said, “Listen now, house of David. Is it not enough for you to try the patience of men, that you will try the patience of my God also? 14 Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin will conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. (Isaiah 7:13-14, WEB)
In this prophecy, Isaiah uses the Hebrew word alma in verse 14, within the underlying Hebrew text. This is the word that is translated into English as virgin.
This Hebrew word, alma, is a crucially important word. It is defined in detail only once in the Old Testament, in Genesis 24:16-43, to refer to a young woman who was a soon-to-be-married virgin. (That woman is Rebekah, who becomes the first woman to whom all Israelites, including her son Jacob, and including the Messiah, can trace their ancestry).
So, what Isaiah is saying with this prophecy, is that a young woman who is a soon-to-be-married virgin, would give birth to a son born to the House of David. Long story short, he is saying that the Messiah, whom other Old Testament prophecies had previously stipulated would be a son born to the House of David, would be born to an alma, which the Old Testament defines as being a young woman who is a soon-to-be-married virgin.
And this defines Mary of Nazareth who gave birth to Jesus, a son born to the House of David, about 2,000 years ago, in the humble town of Bethlehem. At the time of the miraculous conception, Mary of Nazareth is a young woman, who is a virgin, and who is soon to be married.
In other words, the writers of the New Testament, which is the part of the Bible that describes the birth, life, death, resurrection and teachings of Jesus, would not have needed to “borrow” the concept of a virgin birth from some pagan religion because the concept was already present in the Old Testament. And, again, it is worth pointing out that there is no pre-Christian evidence of any pagan tradition as having the concept of a virgin birth.
The false claim that various pre-Christian gods, deities and religious figures were born of a virgin was probably most popularized by Kersey Graves, Gerald Massey, and Acharya S. Collectively, they have falsely claimed, with zero pre-Christian evidence, that figures like Horus, Krishna, Dionysus, Mithras and Zoroaster were born to virgin mothers.
Let’s take a look at this claim for each of these figures:
In fact, we have very little pre-Christian information about Zoroaster as a person. In fact, scholars disagree as to which century he was born in. In fact, scholars disagree as to which millennium he was born in. Some say that Zoroaster was born as early as 1500 BC (about 3,500 years ago), and others say that he was born in about 600 BC (about 2,600 years ago). We literally do not know which millennium he was born in. That exemplifies how little we know of him as a person.
Even so, even with this incredibly sparse information about Zoroaster as a person, a number of modern writers have falsely tried to reimagine him as some sort of a pre-Christian Jesus-type figure.
In this regard, we have a prime example of an “iteration” in which modern writers take a pre-Christian figure, like Zoroaster, and “update” him with Jesus-like qualities, and then claim that Jesus copied him.
And that exposes an underlying logic flaw in an otherwise tightly written script for the movie, Heretic, that iterations travel only in one direction. Sometimes, as we see with some pre-Christian religious figures, they are updated by modern writers as an iteration of Jesus. Then, those writers falsely claim that Jesus is an iteration of those earlier figures. But that’s the world we live in.
As for the claim that various pre-Christian figures were resurrected long before Jesus, that claim also follows the same failed trajectory as the claims that they were born to virgin mothers long before Jesus. In short, there is no pre-Christian evidence of any “resurrections” that in any way resemble the resurrection of Jesus, as described in the Bible’s New Testament.
And, like the virgin birth of Jesus, the resurrection of Jesus is firmly rooted in ... the Old Testament.
For example, Psalm 16:8-11, which is a part of the Old Testament that was written about 1,000 years before the time of Jesus, foretold that a chosen one of God (the Messiah) would be resurrected, as in restored to life, eternally, after being dead in a grave.
You can read more about this prophecy in my book, Jesus the Messiah. Or, you can read more online: King David prophesied about resurrection.
To give another example, the Old Testament’s Suffering Servant prophecy, which is in Isaiah 52:13-53:12, foretold of a chosen one of God (the Messiah) who would suffer and die for the sins of others, and then be restored to life, at which point he would see the beneficial results of his suffering.
You can read more about this prophecy in my book, Jesus the Messiah. Or, you can read more online: God's servant (the Messiah) would suffer and die for our sins.
As alluded to earlier in this article, there are many claims that many pre-Christian deities were born on December 25. This again is a claim that was popularized by Kersey Graves and other mythicist authors.
The reality, though, is that there is no pre-Christian writings or pre-Christian artwork that depict any of the pre-Christian gods, deities or religious figures as being born on December 25. None. None as in none whatsoever. None as in zip, zilch and zero.
Even so, the mythicist authors mentioned above, and others, often repeat this claim that 12, or 16, or some other number of pre-Christian gods were born on December 25.
This claim, like many others, is fiction. It is a lie that is meant to discredit Christianity.
As for Christians, the date of December 25 became a popular time for many to commemorate the birth of Jesus. There are many different theories as to how that happened, but the bottom line is that the New Testament does not give a date for the birth of Jesus, and it certainly does not claim that Jesus was born on December 25.
And so, the fact that many Christians choose December 25 as a time to commemorate the birth of Jesus is a matter of tradition, rather than a matter of some theological belief that Jesus was actually born on that day.
To offer a comparison, Americans celebrate a holiday called Presidents Day, which falls on the third Monday of February each year. It is a matter of tradition. It is not a belief that all American presidents were actually born on the third Monday of February.
The idea that Jesus, or Christianity, needed to borrow anything from pre-Christian religions or traditions is false.
Every single major detail involving Jesus, and Christianity, can trace its roots back to the Old Testament.
Every single major detail involving Jesus, including his lineage, birth, life, ministry, miracle working, teachings, death, resurrection, ascension, and worldwide impact, was foretold, predicted and promised by the prophets of the Old Testament.
Every. Single. Major. Detail.
As for the movie, Heretic, I have zero animosity toward the movie. I admired the quality of the script and the acting. It is a well-scripted and well-acted fictional story.
The motivation for this article grows out of the fact that I happen to be familiar with the source material -- the books by the mythicist authors, such as Kersey Graves -- and thought that this would be an opportunity to address that source material and write a long-winded article.
You can read more about how Jesus is the fulfillment of the promises of the Old Testament in my book, Jesus the Messiah, which explains how Jesus fulfills 50 prophecies from the Old Testament.
And, you can read more about this at http://www.aboutbibleprophecy.com/messianic.htm, which also explains how Jesus fulfills various Old Testament prophecies about a savior, the Messiah.
For additional reading, here are some links to free, online articles that also refute the idea that Christianity was influenced by earlier traditions:
Christianity was not influenced by paganism
Was Mithras born of a virgin, in a stable, on Dec. 25?
"The Da Vinci Code" - the hoax behind the code
Did Christianity steal from Mithraism?
Was Apollonius of Tyana a first century miracle worker like Jesus?
© 2025 Ray Konig.
Ray Konig is the author of Jesus the Messiah, Jesus the Prophet, Jesus the Miracle Worker, and 100 Fulfilled Bible Prophecies.