Church of Raven

The**Church of Raven**(Or just **Raven**) is the name of an international cult and later a world religion. The organization traces its origins to the Apostolic Age and the Roman Empire.

It is generally described as a combination of Christianity, Norse mythology, Islam , and a blend of both Greek and Roman mythology.

## Motives

Raven is a cult comprising of Anarchists worldwide that believe that human governments are brainwashing people into becoming "slaves" for the tyrannical world they call "Society" and that their mission is a divine calling to "liberate" others through brute force and propaganda. For Raven, a true victory would be successfully eliminating the governments of Earth and uniting the planet under a divine Theocracy.

## History

### Early history

Raven was formed in AD 33, during the Apostolic Age. During this time, the Early Church flourished, but as the years went by, it began to suffer persecution from the Roman Empire. In response to this, a group of radical Christian "Zealots" formed an Anarchist group, intending to overthrow the Roman Empire. However, this goal was never realized, as the Roman Empire soon fell following a series of calamities, foreign invasions and civil wars, resulting in a mass exodus of Roman citizens (involving both pagans, and members of the cult) to the New World.

### As a Secret Society

As a secret society, Raven secretly operated behind the scenes, manipulating history so as to make it bend to their will. Notable events include the thwarting of a plot to sabotage the US Civil Rights movement of the late fifties and early sixties, the prevention of Martin Luther King Junior's assassination, the sabotage of Richard Nixon's reelection, and the election of Martin Luther King Junior as America's first black President.

### As a cult insurgency

In the 20th Century, Raven abruptly reemerged as a cult, this time openly displaying its motives for its actions. From the early 1920s to the late 1990s, Raven continued to accumulate followers en-masse due to its charismatic and somewhat "rebellious" ideology. By the time of the late stages of the Cold War, Raven was able to institute riots in former Communist countries like Cuba, North Korea, Vietnam, Thailand and Laos , Middle Eastern countries like Yemen, Iraq, Iran and Syria, and major superpowers like the United States of America, the European Union, the Federation, and Canada.

### As a religion

By 2014, Raven had amassed a quarter of a billion followers worldwide. By 2015, Raven has officially claimed a spot as a major world religion, having established various religiously-based institutions worldwide. They also began to turn militant. Their first act against another party was a cyber-attack that took down the Islamic State of New Palestine's recruitment page on Facebook, in the year 2015. Their next move was a DDOS attack against the website named Pornhub that effectively (and permanently) crashed it. Later, in the year 2016, the cult executed a devastating attack against an animal rights activist group's website using botnets, causing millions of dollars in damages.

In mid 2016, Raven posted a video on both Facebook and YouTube, in which they threatened the Islamic State of New Palestine for its atrocities against innocent civilians in the Middle East. When the Islamic State responded with a video threat of its own, Raven immediately responded by publicly announcing its intentions to "rain fire" on the "terrorist Caliphate." The video claimed that Raven had hacked into the Islamic State's Twitter pages, flooding them with random Viagara ads and effectively blocking the Caliphate's propaganda machines.

## Beliefs and ideology

### View of God

Originally an offshoot of Christianity, the cult has eventually become to be known as Christianity's "more extreme cousin." The members of Raven are Trinitarian theists (belief in only one God in three distinct persons, much like Christianity). However, they view God not just as a King, but as an eternal Emperor and henceforth give him the title of "the Great Eternal Caesar", otherwise known as "Caesar Yahweh", "Emperor Jehovah", or simply "the Great Caesar." Like Christians, they believe God is knowable, yet He hates Society as a whole because of how it has corrupted His perfect creation.

### View of humanity

Like Christians, the members of Raven believe that mankind had been perfect, only to rebel against their Creator and become separated from Him (Romans 3:23, Romans 6:23). They also believe that humanity as a society has become a massive, oppressive brainwashing machine dedicated to brainwashing and oppressing others. They also believe that humanity is no longer capable of doing anything truly good, as man's heart has been "corrupted beyond any means of human repair." The source of sin, in Raven's eyes, is man's obsessive desire to govern himself.

### View of history

History, according to Raven, is predetermined beforehand by the Great Caesar. They believe God mandated humans to manipulate historical events in a way that they forcibly subjugate all of humanity to the will of God. This, according to Raven's theology, is the entire point behind the Great Commission.

### View of Jesus Christ

Christianity and Raven both agree that Jesus is the Son of God. However, Raven believes that He is more; Jesus, according to the teachings of Raven, isn't just the Son of God, but a military commander. In addition, they believe that whenever Jesus made a divine claim about Himself in the Bible, He was secretly uttering veiled threats against the people of Society, those who cling to themselves and insist on governing their own lives. Notable examples include Matthew 5, which Raven interprets as Jesus' way of blessing those who already rebel against Society, yet also shaming the people who actively follow it. Finally, Raven also believes that Jesus' death on the Cross and His subsequent resurrection from the dead was God the Father's war declaration against the Society of sinful man, and that the Great Commission given by Jesus was really a command to bring Heaven to Earth by waging war against all human government by any means necessary.

### Meaning and purpose of life

Raven has one perspective when it comes to purpose of life: man's purpose is to follow Jesus, to obey the Great Caesar, and to achieve a path to "true freedom" by destroying tyrannical society through any means necessary. The ultimate goal is to become the Great Caesar's "legion" of followers dedicated to waging war against Society, and that to truly follow Jesus, one must overthrow the evil impulses from Society, and from people's own corrupt hearts.

## Raven vs. Christianity

### Similarities

Christianity and Raven have the same roots. They also have the similar basic doctrines as shown below

* They are both Trinitarian theists
* They both believe Jesus Christ is the Son of God and that Jesus is the only way to God.
* They believe God is all-knowing, omnipotent, and omnipresent.
* They believe in the Holy Spirit
* They both believe humans are sinners separated from God (Romans 3:23) and that the wages of sin is spiritual separation from God (Romans 6:23).
* They believe that one must be "born again" to see Heaven/Valhalla  (John 3:3), though Raven calls it a "spiritual inversion", or an act of "spiritual anarchy"
* They believe that Jesus lived a sinless life and died via Crucifixion, only to rise again three days later, henceforth defeating the powers of spiritual death and separation from God.
* They both believe the Bible is the Divinely inspired Word of God.

### Differences

Chrsitianity and Raven, though similar in basic doctrine, also have fundamental differences:

* Different take on God the Father-Jehovah/God the Father/Yahweh is given the title "Caesar", and worshipped as "Caesar Yahweh" or "the Great Caesar"
* Different take on the Great Commission-Christians see the Great Commisssion as a command to take the Gospel across the globe; Raven sees the Great Commission as a mandate by Jesus Christ to either share the Gospel with non-believers, or outright kill them in the event that they reject and/or act hostile to the faith.
* Divine claims of Jesus-Christianity sees Jesus' claims about Himself as evidence of His divinity, but Raven sees them as more-they are actually secret veiled threats uttered against the society of sinners (Particular examples are John 14:6, seen by Raven as Jesus declaring that no one-except Him-can save, not even the governments of the world, and Matthew 28, the last chapter of the Gospel of Matthew that contains the Great Commission).
* Different names for Heaven and Hell-Christianity simply calls Heaven "Heaven", or the Kingdom of God, or the Kingdom of Heaven. Heaven/Paradise in Raven is a fusion of Christianity and ancient Norse mythology, referred to as "Valhalla ". Like the concept of Heaven present in Norse mythology , Valhalla contains massive gates guarded by angels disguised as eagles and a massive dining hall, Valhalla is also seen as a Kingdom, much like the Biblical concept of the Kingdom of Heaven, where the Great Caesar Yahweh dwells along with His Son/Military Commander Jesus Christ. Hell, in Raven, is called Tartarus (named after the Greek mythological version of Hell).
* Different take on Hell-To Raven, Hell (named Tartarus in Raven ideology) is not a literal lake of fire (the "lake of fire" depiction of Hell is believed by Raven to be symbolic), but an endless cycle of reincarnation and annihilationism; the souls of condemned people are trapped in an cycle of being destroyed and reincarnated for all eternity.
* View on Sin-Raven sees sin as a cancer that has infected all people as a society so much that it is beyond repair (though people can still be saved) and therefore must be destroyed. They also see human governments as the ultimate example of human sin.
* Different view of the Cross-The Cross is seen by Raven as God the Great Caesar's "war declaration" against human sin, which Raven believes to have spread so much that God has had enough and has decided to go on the offensive (through the Great Commission).
* Concept of Guardian Angels-Followers of Raven also believe in Valkyries, guardian angels that supposedly accompany Raven's soldiers in warfare. They watch over the souls of soldiers in battle and personally bring the souls of those slain in battle to be judged by the Great Caesar.
* Concept of a Last Judgment-Like Christians, Raven has a concept of a "Final Judgment". However, it is different from Christianity in that it is not only whether has received Jesus Christ as Savior during his or her Earthly existence, but also judged on the basis of how much they reflected Jesus throughout their Earthly life (i.e. how much they displayed a "godly hatred" for anything worldly).
* Different view of the Fate of the Unlearned-In regards to the fate of those who die without even getting a chance to hear the Gospel, Raven followers believe that the Great Caesar Yahweh, based on the teachings of Yahweh's love and mercy in the Bible, will hold humans who haven't had a chance to hear the Gospel to a different standard. Like Christians, Raven believes the unlearned will be judged on the basis of God's general revelation in nature (Romans 1:18-20) and conscience (Romans 2:14-15). If they responded positively to Yahweh's general revelation, he will treat them as if they accepted Jesus as Savior in their Earthly lives, despite having no knowledge of Him during their earthly lives. If not, they go to Hell. Unlike most Christians, who believe that a majority of humans have rejected God's general revelation and lived immoral lives, Raven believes that there is a small minority of people in the world that have at least accepted God's general revelation and, based on their understanding and interpretation of God's love, mercy and compassion, He could give them a chance at salvation (a variation of the so-called heretical Second Chance Theology). When challenged by Christians and *their* interpretation of Romans 1:18-25, which says that the provisions in the chapter are only sufficient to condemn and not save the unlearned, Raven argues that Romans 1:18-25 is worded too vaguely and rendered too ambiguous to objectively determine that *all* have rejected God's general revelation and henceforth accuse Christians of "calling God impotent and putting Him in a box."

## Capabilities

As a political movement and secret society, Raven had limited power, though the fact that the cult grew so quickly in such a short span of time allowed it to recruit followers faster than Christianity did. In the modern era, the cult had extensive capabilities. By 2016, it had become known that rogue government officials and even entire government agencies would ally with and even actively join Raven in its conquest against the evils of Society. In addition, Raven also has a massive military arm that recruits pretty much anyone-from private military corporations to entire national militaries, in addition to rogue intelligence agencies. This allows it to spark riots in major countries, and challenge even superpowers like the United States (later known as New America), Russia, and China.

## Military

The military of Raven comprises of a series of divisions that specialize in various different operations. The divisions are depicted below as follows:

* Raven's Rock-Paramilitary force
* Black Widow-Raven's cyber ops unit.
* Valhalla's Angels-Raven's sleeper cell unit

## Members

### Chain of command

* Michael James Slay-Military high command of Raven
* Marlin P. Rine-Second-in-command
* Dennis L. Morey-Overseer of cyber division
* Mary A. Garza-Deputy Director of cyber-division

### Known members

* Mary Townsend
* Tiffany Preston
* Ruth W. Fox
* Douglas Hager
* Darla Wylie
* Ryan Clark
* Anita Brown
* Heather Stacy
* Shannon Warren
* Kathryn Thompson
* Maxim Galkin
* Frostbite
* Asya Artamonova
* Fawza 'Asyriah Halabi
* Caleb Parkes
* Kiara Dangar
* Dakota MacLeod