6/25/2014 Part Two The EVIL
Side.
Mythos and legend have a way of becoming true. If
only true that they are believed and practiced they are true to the people. So
it is with the Babylonian mythos, we know there is truth here because the Bible
references events and results from the story. We know that some of the story
grew bigger than life, yet bigger in this case is only to make the application
of the resulting religion and worship that much more evil. There is and always has been two levels of
thought, an antithesis of the elemental concepts, Good .vs. Evil. Satan has had a plan since he wanted to “be
as God”, he teaches this plan to men that will listen. The Gospel of Jesus
Christ is the Good News, the plan of Satan is the
Humanistic news, Man allowed to do as man wants. But be sure you see the two run parallel they have always
been a simple choice, Do I put God First? Do I choose to serve God or Self and
thus Satan?
… I saw a woman
sitting upon a scarlet beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads
and ten horns. And the woman was clothed in purple and scarlet, decked with
gold and precious stone and pearls, having a cup of gold in her hand full of
abominations and the unclean things of her and of the earth's fornication, and
upon her forehead a name written, Mystery,
Babylon the great, the mother of the harlots and of the abominations of the
earth. Rev 17
This story covers all the years of history from
the flood to the end of the tribulation. For all of time GOOD has been to Know
and obey God. EVIL has been the work of those that deny and attempt to usurp
the authority of God. Please look with
me at a story in two parts but one story, good and evil and the right of people
to choose the path they will follow.
“Evil” is the story of the beginning of all the “wisdom” that said “good
is in men and the way by self-aware knowledge they may overcome the flesh of
this life “evil” and rise in “spirit” to be as God.”
If you look in modern text books on Ancient
History they try to start with Egypt, then add something about Mesopotamia and
the Fertile Crescent, but then go on as if Egypt were the origin of
cavitation. They make no reference to
the flood, Babylon, Nimrod, nor any other part of the Bible History.
2Pe 3:3 Knowing this first, that there
shall come in the last days scoffers,
walking after their own
lusts,
2Pe 3:4 And saying, Where is the promise of
his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.
2Pe 3:5 For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word
of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in
the water:
Omitting the Bible history and order of
events is deliberate, modern historians do not want to admit God is in charge.
God IS in charge and Satan does go about on earth to accuse and deceive
mankind. The Mythos DID come from Satan, he taught men to “in themselves rise
up to escape EVIL FLESH and in SPIRIT be as God.”
I will offer a time line to help you follow my thinking,
you may agree or not this is only the order as I see it. This is not
about me or my writing so I will simply include the articles of others when I
find one that I feel clearly carries the story.
Satan choose to “rise up and be as God”
Creation
Adam & Eve Eat of the Tree
Mankind deep in sin
The Flood
Nimrod, a king, takes a Queen, seeks “wisdom” to rise up
and be god.
Zoroaster (Nimrod) made a “wisdom” religion
(“Babylonian Mysticism also called Zoroastrianism”) opposed to God and teaching
how to rise up and be god.
The Teachings are spread to other parts of the world by
moving and trade.
Egyptian Mysticism is started.
Epic
of Gilgamesh, just a retelling of this story, but on tablets in one of the
oldest writings.
NOTE: there are now two systems of pagan thought:
Polytheism, pantheon of gods for every need
and purpose
Monotheistic, “faith wisdom” (pistis sophia)
Hebrews disobey God and go into exile in Persia
They learn and accept the teachings of Zoroaster, The
beginning of Jewish Mysticism
Christ and Christianity
Gnosticism appears as just the latest version of the
ancient mysticism. Secret wisdom that will allow one to “rise up free of evil
flesh and in spirit be as God.”
This is a very important discussion because it so totally
fills all the teachings and beliefs of all people of all time. And Yet it is
not always presented as evil. All to often the “wisdom” is desired and used as
“ANOTHER WAY OF SALVATION”. Yes the Church and modern religions are
full of the ancient mystic teaching. Calvinism is based on Gnostic thought. New
age is reworded mysticism. Total depravity as it relates to man totally
evil and can’t know God because all FLESH is evil is the ancient mysticism properly
stated.
I feel that a good example of this error being practiced
is seen in the “Oral Traditions”
This is a simple question, What were the “Oral
Traditions”?
I am asking, were the traditions the work of men of God
seeking to teach God’s law? Or were they a mixed teaching of many mystic and
ancient cults that were offered by Satan to deceive men? Taught by men who for
special Knowledge, Position and Power followed a secrete teaching of a higher
knowledge that would free them of evil flesh and allow them to come to God by
their own works. Do they go all the way back to Babylon?
Mat_15:2
Why do thy disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? for they wash not their hands when they
eat bread.
It was commanded to wash the hands before meals, it was
one’s duty to do it after eating. The more rigorous did it between the courses.
The hands must be immersed. Then the water itself must be “clean” and the cups
or pots used must be ceremonially “clean.” Vessels were kept full of clean
water ready for use . So it went on ad infinitum. Thus a real issue
is raised between Jesus and the rabbis. It was far more than a point of
etiquette or of hygienic. The rabbis held it to be a mortal sin. The incident
may have happened in a Pharisee’s house. AT Robinson.
How much of this is an interpretation of OT law which did
not require such a washing and how much comes from the tradition based in the
Dualism that all material flesh is evil. Not washing had become considered sin.
Mat_15:3
But he answered and said unto them, Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition?
Tradition is not good or bad in itself. It is merely what
is handed on from one to another. Custom tended to make these traditions
binding like law. The Talmud is a monument of their struggle with tradition.
There could be no compromise on this subject and Jesus accepts the issued. He
stands for real righteousness and spiritual freedom, not for bondage to mere
ceremonialism and tradition. The rabbis placed tradition (the oral law) above
the law of God. AT Robinson
The Oral Tradition of the Jews had been shaped by their
contact with the Persians (Zoroastrian Dualism) when in captivity and the fact
that not one of the kings of Israel and only one in Judah had obeyed God and
led the people to God. We often think of Israel as “God’s People” but they did
not live up to the promise. They followed idols and handed down traditions that
came from ancient mystic cults, they failed to follow the Law or obey God.
At this point it may be good to ask, “Where did the Pharisees come from any
way? They are not included it in the Law given to Moses, of which they
claim to be “Lawyers or Teachers and “Experts”. In fact they seem to be a
result of the captivity, a middle class group that made the position for
themselves. If they were so dedicated to The Law they would have to teach that
God’s plan was for the Priest of the tribe of Levi to teach and be the
Spiritual leaders of the People. The Pharisees tried constantly to usurp the
position of the Priest and gain power with the people. By the time of Christ
they were very powerful but it is not a position established by God. More
to prove this point the Cabala is the tradition of the Pharisees teachings
written down, it is pure Mysticism.
The
Meaning of “A Tradition”.
We
most often see this word “Tradition” and think of the teachings of the
religious leaders. Maybe the Talmud, or Writings of Rabbis, But what are these
based on. Do not jump to the conclusion that they are from
interpretations by pure teachers of the Word.
Without
reviewing the details of each separate idea I want to see a progression of
thought that is opposed to God and the Bible message. It has a purpose
and a plan and is I feel ONE Continuous MESSAGE. A message of Satan
for all time, a message that man can by knowledge be as god. Its purpose is for
Satan to offer man the “Faith Wisdom” {pistis sophia} and have us all follow him
in trying to ascend to the place of God, a view that says we can come to God by
our own knowledge. Its author is Satan, he has a plan and it is a good one at
least it has worked for many years. One of the first if not the first of these
religions is that of Babylon, the kingdom of Nimrod and his Queen, Semiramis. I
cannot say how much of the legend is true but all the worlds mystic
religions are based on the story, so true or not it is the basis of mystic
religion. Another of the most ancient forms of this is the Chaldean
Mystic Numerology, a system of reading meaning and power from the letters of
words and related numbers. Another is the structure that came to be
Persian and Parsi (Indian) Dualism and in time developed into a monotheistic,
Zoroastrian Dualism of good and evil 1500 to 1200 BC. Around 1500bc Zoroaster
developed his religious structure based on the religion started by Nimrod and
Semiramis. The relation of this religion is very important because the legends say Zoroaster is Nimrod or
his son.(3.) This means the link
between Babylonian mysticism (the thinking of the young man) and
Zoroastrianism ( the knowledge of a mature system and thinking) is simple they
have the same author/ source. At this early point the Babylonian mysticism under
Nimrod/Zoroaster included magic and power of demons.
Chaldean,
Persian, Babylonian, Egyptian, Jewish, Greek, and Roman each of these
civilizations share, develop, and spread the Ideas of Mystic Numerology
and Dualism of good and evil and a secret knowledge that can overcome evil
flesh and rise the one of knowledge to God by his works and knowledge.
There is an important split in the presentation of the occult religions.
First
there is the widely reported and better known pantheon of gods that each nation
or culture had and worshiped. This was a religion for the common person to see
and hold to, something they could do to be “Religious”. To a large extent it
requirements were used to control the masses of people. The “practice”
side greatly effected the behavior and belief of the people it had an enormous
impact on nations and culture of the world.
Second
and not so well knows was the secret “Faith Wisdom” {pistis
sophia} which was passed along to a
select few that were able to understand the meaning of the teachings. The
word mystic means secret. This was the Zoroastrian Mysticism that led to
Egyptian Mysticism, Jewish Mysticism, and later Gnosticism.
It
started when Satan by his beauty and knowledge thought to rise up and be as
God. In Gen 3:5 Satan offered Eve enlightenment and knowledge that would
allow her to rise up and become as God. In fact every one of the traditions is
based on knowledge that will allow the person to overcome the evil of flesh and
rise up to God by their own ability of self-aware thought and power. Satan
still trying to do the one thing he wants most, to be like God worshiped and
loved.
When
Israel went into captivity they were directly influenced by the Persian
(Zoroastrian) ideas and they adopted many of the teachings in their traditions.
Cyrus the Great was relatively liberal. While he himself ruled according to
Zoroastrian beliefs, he made no attempt to impose Zoroastrianism on the people
of his subject territories. The Jews most famously benefited from this; Cyrus
permitted them to return to Jerusalem from exile in Babylon, and rebuild their
temple. This act of kindness made a huge impact on Judaism. Zoroastrian
philosophy powerfully influenced post-Exilic Judaism. It is the foundation of
Jewish tradition and mysticism. Darius the Great was famously pious and showed
the same general tolerance for other faiths as his predecessor Cyrus. He also
showed kindness to Israel. His piety is expressed in religious
inscriptions left on his tomb.
Like most of the mystic religions the “Faith Wisdom” teachings were passed down
to ONLY an elite that “Could Understand the Meaning”. These teachings
were not accepted by the masses and had to be kept secret passed along orally.
There
are many sources of the specifics of these teachings and they are all very
similar. Where these traditions
that developed by the time of Christ no more than the Mystic Dualism of the
secret Traditions that became Jewish Mysticism, Gnosticism, and Allegory? Remember, these
were secret teachings and we have only a little real data on them, SO YES I am
“Reading Between the Lines” still I feel this idea is worth considering. Is it
reasonable that Christ would have been so hard on a specific literal keeping of
the LAW? Was there more to the “traditions” in these verses (Mt 15:2)
than we may have thought? Then too we have the Egyptian mysticism and
allegory that saw the words as symbols and meanings (from Chaldean Mystic
Numerology) and they were free to “interpret” the Bible as they wanted. Philo
was one of the teachers in this movement. When ”we” read the ancient
mystic writings they seem meaningless to us, WE DON’T READ ALLEGORY.
Satan
has a PLAN!!
Satan
failed to over throw God and is condemned and he knows it. He goes about on
earth to deceive as many people as he can and he has a good plan. From the most
ancient times the idea of good vs evil has been known. Satan created and taught
men to believe mysticism dualism and magic as a way they could rise up free of
evil flesh and be god.
There
is a progressing system here from Satan to Nimrod who became known also as
Zoroaster and Tammuz and
Adonis,
yes following Satan these four famous names are the same character in the
story. The mystic traditions are all part of the plan to teach men they could
become “as god” by knowledge from the religious system they taught.
In
Satan’s system the TRUE ALL POWERFUL GOD is not knowable by man. A lesser god
made the world in an error. Man was made in an error and mistakenly given a
spark of the divine light. Because of the mistake all of the world and man were
created evil. Satan used a man (Nimrod/Zoroaster), he gave a vision to start a
religion that on the surface sounded good, but, went far beyond the surface
good and included mysticism, magic, and the knowledge cults in its development.
These errors came from Babylonian folklore, Zoroastrian Dualism, Buddhist ethics, Egyptian Mysticism, Greek Philosophy,
Jewish Tradition and Mysticism, Manicheans, and Gnosticism.
Zoroaster
is said to have received a vision from Ahura Mazda, the Wise Lord, who
appointed him to preach the truth. He said he saw many problems with the
polytheistic religion, so many gods and no one would be committed to any. It
was at this point he started to present a monotheistic religion to focus the
allegiance of followers to one god. Nimrod was the sun god, fire and light.
Semiramis was the “queen of heaven” the moon god. Zoroaster began
preaching his message of cosmic strife between Ahura Mazda, the God of Light,
and Ahriman, the principle of evil. According to the prophet, man had been
given the power to choose between good and evil. The end of the world would
come when the forces of light would triumph and the saved souls rejoice in its
victory. The secret knowledge was needed when a person with the spark of
light died. They had to traverse the spirit world to get to the one true god.
That meant getting safely past all the Aeons who ruled the levels of the spirit
world. You had to have the magic spells and passwords and knowledge of the way
to pass that would take you safely through. Zoroaster's teaching
became the guiding light of Persian civilization. BC1500
The
idea here is that man, by knowledge,
can ascend beyond the evil of flesh and come to pure spirit of god by himself. This is the origin of “All
Flesh Is Evil and total depravity” only the spirit is good. It is the origin
of the idea some are "elect"to be saved and some "elect" to
be lost, only the ones with the spark of light can be saved. It was
the Mystic secret knowledge given by Satan to deceive the world.
“But
especially does “Wisdom of Knowledge” that is “Faith Wisdom {pistis sophia}”, testify to the antiquity of
the Mystic Wisdom. Of Chaldean origin... Gnosticism was Jewish in
character long before it became Christian... Gnosticism that is,(wisdom of
Knowledge) seems to have been the first attempt on the part of the Jewish sages
to give the empirical mystic lore, with the help of Platonic and Pythagorean or
Stoic ideas, a speculative turn; hence the danger of heresy…of which the
systems of Philo show many pitfalls...
“Jewish
Gnosticism unquestionably antedates Christianity, for Biblical exegesis had
already reached an age of five hundred years by the first century
C.E. Judaism had been in close contact with Babylonian-Persian
ideas for at least that length of time, and for nearly as long a period
with Hellenistic ideas. Magic, also, which was a not unimportant part of the
doctrines and manifestations of Gnosticism, largely occupied Jewish thinkers.
There is, in general, no circle of ideas to which elements of Gnosticism have
not been traced, and with which the Jews were not acquainted.” (Jewish
Encyclopedia)
Closely connected herewith
is the doctrine that the pious are enabled to ascend toward god even in this
life, if they know how to free themselves from the trammels that bind the soul
(good) to the body (evil). Thus were the first mystics enabled to disclose the
mysteries of the world beyond. According to Anz, l.c., and Bousset, …the
central doctrine of Gnosticism—a movement closely connected with Jewish
mysticism—was nothing else than the attempt to liberate the soul and unite it
with god.
(Jewish
Encyclopedia) (1)
Please
understand this is the whole point. The modern world rejects the creation, and
free will of man.
2Pe 3:3 -4
Above all, you must understand that in the
last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires.
They will say, "Where is this 'coming' he promised? Ever since our
ancestors died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of
creation. (These scoffers are mystic. Ancestors or Fathers are
mystic teachers in the world of Satan.)
Without
these points there is no bible message. God did not create sin. Man
was given a choice and made the wrong one. The cause for sin is man’s choice, A
choice to DISOBEY God. The only SIN is to disobey GOD. There are two sides
{God=Good} or {self, world, what I want = Evil}, the question is which do you
choose. Satan is actively enticing the mind of men to do as he had done,
“With Knowledge you can be as God”!
Here
is Satan’s Plan.
3:1
Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the LORD God
had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of
every tree of the garden?
3:2
And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of
the garden:
3:3
But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath
said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.
3:4
And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:
3:5
For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be
opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.
3:6
And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was
pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of
the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he
did eat.
3:7
And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and
they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.
I
hope I have made my point on the beginning of sin and I am not going to cover
the story of Eve and the Serpent told here, I hope to look beyond these stories
we have all heard so often and point out some new Ideas. I hope to show a
comparison of Satan’s method in the garden and today in our world.
First an incomplete thread
of truth, this is only part of what God said.
3:1
God said, Ye shall eat of every tree of the garden?
In
her answer Eve added to what had been said. God had not said anything about
touching the tree.
Second Satan offers a
misleading idea to further his point.
Ye
shall not surely die:
Then
he adds an appealing reason to do what she wanted to without God.
3:5
For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes
shall
be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.
Choose
to possess the enlightened knowledge, your choice makes you a god.
Third we see a progression
of disobedience, incremental movement to sin.
the
woman saw
it
was pleasant to the eyes
be
desired to make one wise
she
took of the fruit
and
did eat
gave
also unto her husband with her;
and
he did eat.
The
outline we have here is the modern method to deny God, the bible, and moral
right and wrong. Satan devised this outline in the garden; he and his servants
still use it today. Please understand this is not a small thing, there is a
plan to the Liberal Agenda, and it is an Old Plan.
1st Misstate the facts
to SOUND the way you want them, use a thread of truth as a foundation.
2nd Offer a misleading
idea to further the point, make your point, add your position or opinion.
3rd In small increments keep
making the claim and moving public thought to your way of thinking.
There
is a story that all the demons and Satan were trying to decide how to make this
plan work best and a little demon cried out “WAIT” he wanted to be heard. When
Satan heard “Wait” he exclaimed, “THAT IS IT”, “You have the best Idea of
all”, There is no hurry just WAIT, Put off the decision, state what we want
over and over.
Modern
Man says there is no GOD.
Evolution
The
world JUST HAPPENED by
chance.
Man
has no Free Will, we are only a more self-aware
animal.
Naturalism
All
of nature is equal.
Do
not eat other animals they are just as valuable as man.
*Man as the highest self
aware animal answers only to man.
Humanism
Moral
Right is what “I” want right now.
Wrong
is anything that keeps me form what I want.
If
God did not create the world and man in His image there is no absolute
authority for moral law, Man is free to be god and answer to only himself.
Modern
Liberal Humanist want to eat of the tree; “in the day ye eat thereof, then your
eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.” They do
not want an absolute, almighty, all knowing, GOD to whom they must be obedient.
Modern
Liberal Humanist cannot believe in God, if they did they would have to answer
to Him and keep His commandments. They could not be god and make the rules.
This
is the choice we have to make, will I accept God and his promises or shall I
choose to be enlightened and not need god because man is god.
The
Enlightenment of the 18th century was this very comparison, Educated
People rejecting the God of the medieval church. They rejected the Bible and
its God. Enlightened man had moved beyond the need for God. He was free, by his
own reason and now the master of all he understood.
Enlightened
man rejected creation of the world as told in the bible, even though many
scientist and leaders of the time rejected Darwin as poor science, and Darwin
admitted that he had never proven or fully explained the theory. There was a
large group of humanist Philosophers that accepted even promoted Darwin’s
theory. They had made up their minds before the discussion started. They did
not accept the idea of God. These theories were the lie. They denied God, they
denied the creation, the enlightened man did not want an all knowing, all
powerful God that he had to answer to and obey.
The
men of this period of thought made a choice the wrong one. They made up their
minds there was no God. Man was a product of natural events. With their minds
made up, they went on to prove the point. A mind yielded to Satan
is controlled by Satan and can use and follow his outline with skill.
They
told a partial truth.
Man
Changes, and change in nature are normal.
They
offer a misleading idea to further the point.
God
controlled how the world evolved.
They
progressively, repeatedly promote the idea of humanism.
For
many years now in little steps they have progressively pushed the theory of
evolution. They knew it was an unsound and unproven theory but it fit what they
wanted. The theory has slowly been moved from an illustration of the flow of
life; to a theory of how all life came to be; to scientific fact. And it has
been incorporated into almost every idea in our lives.
Evolution
is the best argument against Historic Christianity as a way of belief. Prove
God did not do what the bible says He did and there is no Bible, God, or
absolute power, truth, right, wrong. Man is his own master, the highest
self-aware animal that lives a little while on earth then is no more.
This
evolution vs. creation argument is not a minor disagreement. It is the
foundation of the historic Christian system of belief and values. We have a
choice, look at the world around us all the wonders of creation and know God
created all this for us, or believe the entire world just happened by chance.
The
Bible, what does it mean? Why do we have the bible?
The
bible is God’s word to us. The educated liberals try to say men over many years
and from many places wrote stories these were told and handed down.
They
told a partial truth.
men
over many years and from many places wrote stories.
They
offer a misleading idea to further the point.
The
bible is just mythology, stories of men.
Liberals
deny, discredit, and laugh at the bible. Over the years they teach the wisdom of men.
The bible is degraded to the point it is unacceptable to reference it or quote
in public.
Satan
is still working the Plan, he has not given up. Please do not be mistaken
Satan is very active in the affairs of men. The plan allows men to choose
to serve “Human self” instead of God. Natural man disobeys God and puts man
before or instead of God.
Romans
1:18-24
21
For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks,
but they became futile in their peculations, and their foolish heart was
darkened. 22 Professing to be wise, they became fools, 23 and
exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of
corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures.
24 Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity,
so that their bodies would be dishonored among them. 25 For they
exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever.
Amen.
Knowing
the enemy is important because he is real and will continue to accuse until he
has been thrown down by Michael and his angels in the future.
If the Bible records the over throw of Satan and stopping him from accusing our
brethren, “for the accuser of our brethren has been thrown down, who accuses
them before our God day and night.” It stands to reason that accusing the
brethren IS what Satan is doing. Satan’s plan is real, his purpose is deadly
serious, and he is in the world today.
(Rev_12:7-12)
Satan
is active in this story. Satan is the one with the plan and is ACTIVELY seeking
to deceive mankind. He wants to be worshiped, admired, and in control. Today
Mysticism, Dualism, and Gnosticism are active in our world, an example is The
New Age Movement.
SEMIRAMIS, QUEEN OF BABYLON
Any
effort to trace the origins of the myth, legend, and lore of goddess-worship
will eventually lead one back to a single historical figure---Semiramis, wife
of Nimrod and queen of Babylon.
Before
we can begin to deal with Semiramis though, we must (as with any historical
figure) gain at least a general understanding of her cultural and temporal
setting. Since I have found in my researches that neither proven scientific
truth nor gleanings of fact from the body of ancient legends in any way
contradicts a proper understanding of biblical revelation, I will use the
scriptural framework of history as a basis upon which to reconstruct the story
of Semiramis the woman.
When
Noah and his family left the ark after the flood, they settled first at the
northern feet of Ararat facing what is today Georgia, USSR. From here, these
eight souls began to spread out into the surrounding districts of northern Iran
and Syria, as well as eastern Turkey. After a considerable period (perhaps 5 to
6 hundred years), the families of Noah's descendants began to scatter a bit
more widely due to increasing population, and perhaps some degree of rivalry or
even enmity between the families of Japheth, Shem, and Ham. In this way we find
that within about half a millennium the entire "fertile crescent", as
well as the Nile valley, the Anatolian and Iranian plateaus, Arabia, and
Ethiopia have been sparsely settled---but with a decided majority of Noah's
descendants living in the lower regions of Mesopotamia (which would come to be
called Sumer and Akkad).
Modern
archaeology has confirmed the fact that the first inhabitants of these areas
were homogeneous in both race and culture, and the most reliable researches
indicate that it was from here that population, animal husbandry, metallurgy,
agriculture, and "citification" spread throughout the earth. The
scientific and scriptural views are in exact agreement upon the origin and
spread of races and civilization---the only point of difference is the time
scale involved! Whereas the scriptures clearly indicate the existence of all
these elements of civilization long before the flood; orthodox science, by it's
denial of the bible is required to construct a mythical stone age several
millennia long in order to account for the same phenomena.
It
was in Mesopotamia that the first cities were built after the flood, and the
first of these was quite naturally named after the very first city built by man
before the flood---Enoch. Due to vagaries of linguistic permutation, this name
has come down to us as Erech or Uruk in Sumeria. In all there were seven major
cities built near the head of the Persian Gulf, leading to the name "Land
of the Seven Cities" commonly found in the early mythologies of the world.
These seven cities are enumerated in Genesis as those which were conquered by
Nimrod, establishing the world's first empire. The earliest Babylonian legends
tell of a conquering people who came up out of the Persian Gulf and established
an empire from these cities. This seems to fit well with what we know of the
movements of Nimrod in his early career. He was a native of Ethiopia and was
widely traveled among the few populated areas of those days. When he set out to
build himself an army of conquest, he recruited from his "cousins"
the descendants of Sheba and Dedan who had come up through Arabia to settle on
the Asian mainland at the Straight of Hormuz and on the Indus river in what is
now Afghanistan (these people were the Dravidians who were driven southward
into India by the later Aryan invasion). After raising his army, Nimrod ferried
them up the gulf in the world's first naval armada, and conquered his empire.
The best estimates place the time of the conquest as about 4000 to 3500 BC, and
about 1000 years after the flood of Noah.
In the
midst of the tumult of war Nimrod and Semiramis met--and in none too savory
circumstances, for tradition states that she was an inn/brothel keeper in the
city of Erech---leading one to speculate upon the nature of their initial
acquaintance. Semiramis was a native of Erech, which as evidenced by it's name
seems to have been built by a Hamitic family (Ham's wife was said to have been
descended from Cain who built the first Erech in honor of his son). The name
Semiramis is a later, Hellenized form of the Sumerian name
"Sammur-amat", or "gift of the sea."
The
initial element "sammur" when translated into Hebrew becomes
"Shinar" (the biblical name for lower Mesopotamia), and is the word
from which we derive "Sumeria". This one tarnished woman then, had
such a lasting impact upon world history that not only do we call by her name
the land from which civilization flowed, but God himself through the sacred
writer has let us know that its distinguishing characteristic was that it was
"the Land of Shinar," or Semiramis. Very little has come down to us
through the millennia concerning Semiramis' rise to power, but it is safe to
assume that it was initially upon Nimrod's coattails that she rode, although
later in life as well as throughout history her influence overwhelmingly
obscured that of her husband. Of course, it would not do to have an ex-harlot
upon the throne, so the "polite fiction" was invented that she was a
virgin sprung from the sea at Nimrod's landing, and hence a suitable bride for
the emperor(thus the title Semiramis which has totally obscured her original
name).
Semiramis
was the instigator in forming the false religion aimed at supporting their
rule, and of course her suggestion fell upon open ears. The religion she
invented was based primarily upon a corruption of the primeval astronomy
formulated by Noah's righteous ancestors before the flood. In the original this
system depicted by means of constellations the story of Satan's rebellion and
the war in the heavens, his subversion of mankind, the fall of Adam and Eve,
the promise of One to come who would suffer and die to relieve man from the
curse of sin then be installed as Lord of Creation, and the final
re-subjugation of the cosmos to God through Him.
These
eternal truths were corrupted by her (rather, quite obviously, by the evil one
controlling her) into a mythic cycle wherein the great dragon is depicted as
the rightful lord of the universe whose throne has been temporarily usurped by
One whom we can recognize as the God of the Bible. The serpent creates man in
his present miserable state, but promises that a child would one day born of a
divine mother---which child would supplant God, become a god himself, and
return rulership of the Earth to the serpent. These fables were based upon the
then widely-known story of the constellations, and were introduced under the
guise of revealing the hidden esoteric knowledge concealed in them (regardless
of the fact that the original was quite straightforward).
Although
this esotericism was the second element in Semiramis' cult, it only masked the
actual goal which was the worship of the "heavenly host," which the
Bible equates with Satan's army of fallen angels. Satan was quite willing to
receive worship "by proxy", hence the third major element of the
mystery religion was emperor-worship. This religion was propagated by a
hierarchy of priests and priestesses, to whom were assigned the task of
initiating the populace at large into it's ascending degrees of revelation,
culminating at the highest level in both direct worship of Satan and
demon-possession.
Although
Nimrod was a brilliant strategist, he made a fatal blunder when he allowed
Semiramis to retain full control over this religious hierarchy, and through it
the minds and hearts of the people; for when a schism occurred between them she
was able to turn it from a tool of support into a deadly weapon. The rift
between husband and wife occurred when the queen bore an illegitimate son, and
the king threatened her with both dethronement and exposure of her true origin.
Semiramis, of course would not allow this to take place, and devised a plot to
overthrow Nimrod.
During
the course of the New Year's festivities at which the advent of Nimrod's rule
was celebrated, there was a certain feast exclusively for the royal family and
the upper echelons of the priesthood. During this feast, which included
"courses" of psychedelic and hallucinogenic drugs, a year-old ram was
traditionally sacrificed by being torn limb-from-limb while still alive, and
it's flesh eaten raw. This ram symbolized the old year passing into the heavens
to allow room for the new year. A new-born lamb was then presented which,
symbolizing the new year, would be kept and fattened for the next year's
ceremonies. This year Semiramis directed the ritual according to the formula,
with the exception that when the time came for the ram to be slaughtered, it
was the king who was torn to pieces at the hands of the drug-crazed priesthood
and Semiramis' bastard son was installed as king. Thus Nimrod, the mighty hunter,
died a horrible death as a trapped beast himself.
Semiramis
named her son Damu (from the Sumerian "dam," or blood), which in the
later Babylonian language became Dammuzi, in Hebrew Tammuz, and in Greek
Adonis. Of course, Semiramis assumed the regency for her infant son, and ruled
as absolute monarch for 42 more years. In order to avoid having to kill her son
on the next New Year's Day, she instituted an annual nation-wide sports
competition, the winner of which would have the "honor" of taking
Damu's place and ascending into heaven to become a god.
Semiramis
was not unopposed in her arrogation of the regency, however, or her rule as a
woman. The military arm of the government was divided into two camps for and
against her, and a short war ensued which ended when the populace (roused by
the priesthood) not only refused to support the "rebels" but actively
opposed them. In the course of this war, though, things became so close that
Semiramis was forced to build a system of walls, towers, and gates around Babylon
to defend herself. She was thus the first to build fortifications and her crown
afterwards was in the form of the turreted walls of Babylon. To oppose the
accusations of "mere" womanhood laid against her, she had herself
deified as the mother of the god Damu (since only a god can beget a god) , and
installed as "The Queen of Heaven" pictured in the constellation
Cassiopeia, which the ancients had intended as a corporate representation of
those people faithful to God who will be enthroned by Him after the end of the
age.
In
spite of her cleverness, though, she also sowed the seeds of her own
destruction. As she raised her son, she imbued him with divinity in the eyes of
the priests and people as the means of retaining control as the divine mother
without seeming to aggrandize herself. As Damu grew he became used to having
every whim instantly gratified by a subservient, indeed groveling, populace.
For safety's sake he had a personal bodyguard/companion group which he was
never without, and which formed an elite corps of soldiery loyal and
accountable to him alone. Upon coming to maturity and demanding of his mother
to be installed as king, she not only refused him this--but, seeing him now as
a challenge to her rule, slated him for the same death she had meted to his
father. Damu caught on to her scheme, and pre-empted his "assumption"
by slaying his mother with his own sword, and putting down any priestly
protests by purging the hierarchy of all who would not vow allegiance to him.
Thus Semiramis died after reigning as queen over Babylon for 102 years.
These
events laid the groundwork for all of the pagan religious systems of antiquity,
as well as many alive today. Semiramis, in particular was the model and
original of every goddess and female cult figure in the ancient and modern
worlds (either directly or by derivation); and thus it essential to know her
story in order to discern what is factual legend and what is merely myth.
BABYLONIAN RELIGION
By Harry A. Ironside
As
we go back into the dim twilight of history with Scripture, we learn that the
founder of Bab-el, or Babylon, was Nimrod, of whose unholy achievements we read
in the 10th chapter of Genesis. He was the arch-apostate of the patriarchal
age. He is described as a "mighty hunter before the Lord" -- "a
hunter of the souls of men," the rabbis said. Going out from the presence
of the Lord, he impiously sought to gather a multitude about himself, and in
defiance of the express command of God to spread abroad upon the face of the
earth, he persuaded his associates and followers to join together in
"building a city and a tower which should reach unto heaven."
Not
surely as some of us were taught in our childhood a tower by which they might
climb up into the skies to escape another possible flood, but a tower of
renown, rising to a great height, to be recognized as a temple or rallying
center for those who did not walk in obedience to the word of the Lord. With
all the effrontery of our modern apostates, they called their city and tower
Bab-El, the gate of God; but it was soon changed by divine judgment into Babel,
Confusion. It bore the stamp of unreality from the first, for we are told,
"they had brick for stone, and slime had they for mortar." An
imitation of that which is real and true has ever since characterized Babylon
in all ages.
Nimrod,
or Nimroud-bar-Cush, as he is called on the monuments, was a grandson of Ham,
the unworthy son of Noah, whose character is revealed in his exposure of his
father's shame. We know that Noah had brought through the flood the revelation
of the true God, for he was a preacher of righteousness, and his utterances on
more than one occasion show that he had the prophetic gift. Ham on the other
hand seems to have been all too readily affected by the apostasy that brought
the flood, for he shows no evidence of self-judgment, but the very opposite. So
Noah passes over his unworthy son and utters a curse upon Canaan, Ham begat a
son named Cush, and he became the father of Nimrod, the apostate leader of his
generation.
Ancient
lore now comes to our assistance, and tells us that the wife of Nimrod-bar-Cush
was the infamous Semiramis, the First. She is reputed to have been the founder
of the Babylonian mysteries and the first high-priestess of idolatry. Thus
Babylon became the fountainhead of idolatry, and the mother of every heathen
and pagan system in the world. The mystery-religion that was originated there
spread in various forms throughout the whole earth, and as we shall see in a
few minutes, it is with us today. It is identical with the mystery of iniquity
which wrought so energetically in Paul's day, and shall have its fullest
development when the Holy Spirit has departed and the Babylon of the apocalypse
holds sway.
Building
on the primeval promise of the woman's Seed who was to come, Semiramis bore a
son whom she declared was miraculously conceived, and when she presented him to
the people, he was hailed as the promised deliverer. This was Tammuz, whose
worship Ezekiel protested against in the days of the captivity. Thus was
introduced the mystery of the mother and the child, a form of idolatry that is
older than any other known to man. The rites of this worship were secret. Only
the initiated were permitted to know its mysteries. It was Satan's effort to
delude mankind with an imitation so like the truth of God that they would not
know the true Seed of the woman when He came in the fullness of time. To this
Justin Martyr bears definite witness.
From
Babylon this mystery-religion spread to all the surrounding nations, as the
years went on and the world was populated by the descendants of Noah.
Everywhere the symbols were the same, and everywhere the cult of the mother and
child became the popular system. Their worship was celebrated with the most
disgusting and immoral practices. The image of the queen of heaven with the
babe in her arms was seen everywhere, though the names might differ as
languages differed. It became the mystery-religion of Phoenicia, and by the
Phoenicians was carried to the ends of the earth. Ashtoreth and Tammuz, the
mother and child of these hardy adventurers, became Isis and Horus in Egypt,
Aphrodite and Eros in Greece, Venus and Cupid in Italy, and bore many other
names in more distant places. Within 1,000 years, Babylonianism had become the
religion of the world, which had rejected the Divine revelation.
Linked
with the central mystery were countless lesser mysteries, the hidden meaning of
which was known only to the initiates, but the outward forms were practiced by
all the people. Among these were the doctrines of purgatorial purification
after death, salvation by countless sacraments (such as priestly absolution),
sprinkling with holy water, the offering of round cakes to the queen of heaven
(as mentioned in the book of Jeremiah), dedication of virgins to the gods
(which was literally sanctified prostitution), weeping for Tammuz for a period
of 40 days prior to the great festival of Istar (who was said to have received
her son back from the dead); for it was taught that Tammuz was slain by a wild
boar and afterwards brought back to life. To him the egg was sacred, as
depicting the mystery of his resurrection even as the evergreen was his chosen
symbol and was set up in honor of his birth at the winter solstice, when a
boar's head was eaten in memory of his conflict and a yule log burned with many
mysterious observances.
The
sign of the cross was sacred to Tammuz, as symbolizing the life giving principle
and as the first letter of his name. It is represented upon vast numbers of the
most ancient altars and temples, and did not, as many have supposed originate
with Christianity. From this mystery-religion, the patriarch Abraham was
separated by the divine call, and with this same evil cult the nation that
sprang from him had constant conflict, until under Jezebel, a Phoenician
princess, it was grafted onto what was left of the religion of Israel in the
northern kingdom in the day of Ahab, and was the cause of their captivity at
the last. Judah was polluted by it, for Baal-worship was but the Canaanitish
form of Babylonian mysteries, and only by being sent into captivity to Babylon
itself did Judah become cured of her fondness for idolatry. Baal was the
Sun-God, the Life-giving One, identical with Tammuz.
When
Christ came into this world the mystery of iniquity was everywhere holding
sway, save where the truth of God as revealed in the Old Testament was known.
Thus, when the early Christians set out upon the great task of carrying the
gospel to the ends of the earth, they found themselves everywhere confronted by
this system, in one form or another; for though Babylon as a city had long been
but a mystery, her mysteries had not died with her. When the city and temples
were destroyed, the high-priest fled with a company of initiates and their
sacred vessels and images to Pergamos, where the Symbol of the serpent was set
up as the emblem of the hidden wisdom. From there, they afterwards crossed the
sea and immigrated to Italy, where, they settled on the Etruscan plain.
There
the ancient cult was propagated under the name of the Etruscan Mysteries and
eventually Rome became the headquarters of Babylonianism. The chief priests
wore mitres shaped like the head of a fish, in honor of Dagon, the fish-god,
the Lord of life-another form of the Tammuz mystery, as developed among
Israel's old enemies, the Philistines. The chief priest when established in
Rome took the title Pontifex Maximus, and this was imprinted in on his mitre.
When Julius Caesar (who was an initiate like all young Romans of good family)
had become the head of the States, he was elected Pontifex Maximus, and this
title was held henceforth by all the Roman emperors down to Constantine the
Great, who was at one and the same time, head of the church, and high priest to
the heathen. The title was afterwards conferred upon the bishops of Rome, and
is borne by the pope today, who is thus declared to be, not the successor of
the fisherman-apostle Peter, but the direct successor of the high priest of the
Babylonian mysteries, and the servant of the fish-god Dagon, for whom he wears,
like his idolatrous predecessors, the fisherman's ring.
During
the early centuries of the church's history, the mystery of iniquity had
wrought with such astounding effect, and the Babylonian practices and teachings
had been so largely absorbed by that which bore the name of the church of
Christ, that the truth of the Holy Scriptures on many points had been wholly
obscured, while idolatrous practices had been foisted upon the people as
Christian sacraments, and the heathen philosophies took the place of gospel
instruction. Thus was developed that amazing system which for a thousand years
dominated Europe and trafficked in the bodies of souls of men, until the great
Reformation of the 16th century brought in a measure of deliverance.
e-sword
commentary
(Rev_17:1-17)
GREAT BABYLON
THE NAME CONNECTS WITH THE PRIMAL APOSTASY AFTER THE
FLOOD—NIMROD, HIS QUEEN SEMIRAMIS, AND THEIR INVENTIONS-
THE WORLD'S INTOXICATION WITH THEM-
THE HARLOT'S OWN DRUNKENNESS WITH THE BLOOD OF SAINTS—
By Dr.
Seiss e-sword
commentary
Rev_17:
And he bore me away in spirit into a wilderness, and I
saw a woman sitting upon a scarlet beast, full of names of blasphemy, having
seven heads and ten horns. And the woman was clothed in purple and scarlet,
decked with gold and precious stone and pearls, having a cup of gold in her
hand full of abominations and the unclean things of her and of the earth's fornication,
and upon her forehead a name written, Mystery, Babylon the great, the mother of the harlots and
of the abominations of the earth.
We have already twice heard of Great Babylon, and
calamity to her; once in Rev_14:8, by anticipation; and once in Rev_16:19, where her sins were said to have come into remembrance,
and the cup of the fierceness of the wrath of God to have been administered to
her. The particulars of that visitation, as well as the whole character and
relations of this mystic personage, are given in the chapters upon which we now
enter. As the first reference was somewhat anticipative, so these further
accounts are somewhat retrogressive, and go back to exhibit in all its length
and breadth what in the previous chapter was only synoptically stated.
The subject itself is one of great prominence in the
Apocalypse, as in all the prophecies; but it has proven about as difficult as
it is conspicuous. The first point is the evident correlation and contrast
between the Woman here pictured and another Woman described in the twelfth
chapter.
Both these Women are mothers; the first "brought
forth a son, a male [neuter, embracing either sex], who is to rule all the
nations;" the second "is the mother of harlots and of the
abominations of the earth."
Both are splendidly dressed; the first is "clothed
with the sun." Her raiment is light from heaven. The second is
"clothed in purple, and scarlet, decked with gold, and precious stone, and
pearls." All her ornaments are from below, made up of things out of the
earth and the sea.
Both are very influential in their position; the first
has "the moon," the empress of night, the powers of darkness,
"under her feet;" the second "hath rule, or kingdom, upon the
kings of the earth."
Both are sufferers; against the first is the Dragon, who
stands watching to devour her child, and persecutes and pursues her, and drives
her into the wilderness, and sends out a river to overwhelm her, and is at war
with all her seed that he can find; against the second are the ten kings, who
ultimately hate her, and make her desolate and naked, and eat her flesh, and
burn her with fire, whilst God in His strength judgeth her, and visits her with
plague, death, and utter destruction.
Both are very conspicuous, and fill a large space in the
history of the world, and in all the administrations of divine providence and
judgment. That they are counterparts of each other there can hardly be. a
reasonable doubt.
The one is a pure woman, the other is a harlot.
The first is hated by the powers on earth, the second is
loved, flattered, and caressed by them. Where the one has sway, things are
heavenly; where the other lives, it is "wilderness."
The one produces masculine nobility, which is ultimately
caught away to God and to His throne; the other produces effeminate impurity,
which calls down the fierceness of the divine wrath.
The one is sustained and helped by celestial wings; the
other is supported and carried by the Dragon power,-the Beast with the seven
heads and ten horns.
The one has a crown of twelve stars, wearing the
patriarchs and apostles as her royal diadem; the other has upon her forehead
the name of the greatest destroyer and oppressor of the holy people, and is
drunken with "the blood of prophets and of saints, and of all that have
been slain upon the earth."
The one finally comes out in a heavenly city, the New
Jerusalem, made up of imperishable jewels, and arrayed in all the glory of God
and the Lamb; the other finally comes out in a city of this world's superlative
admiration, which suddenly goes down forever under the intense wrath of Heaven,
and becomes the habitation of demons, and a hold of every unclean spirit.
These two Women, thus related, and set over one against
the other as opposites and rivals, must necessarily be interpreted in the same
way. As Antichrist corresponds to Christ as a rival and antagonist of Christ,
so Great Babylon corresponds to the Woman that bears the Manchild, as her rival and antagonist.
"The Woman clothed with the sun, having the moon
under her feet, is the Church of the Patriarchs, and of the Prophets, and of
the holy Apostles"--that is, the Church from the days of Adam and Eve on
to the last victory over the worship, name, and mark, of the final Antichrist.
What then can this rival Woman be but the organized
Antichurch, the pseudo-church, the Bride made out of Satan, the universal body
and congregation of false-believers and false-worshippers?
As Christ has had a visible Church in all time, embodying
the wisdom and spirit of heaven, and maintaining the confession of His truth
and worship,
So has the Devil had a corresponding following in all
time, embodying the sensual and devilish wisdom and spirit, and maintaining the
profession and teaching of Satan's lies.
And as the first Woman denotes the one, so the second
Woman denotes the other. The proofs of this will appear as we consider the
particulars of the case.
1. One of the most characteristic features of this Woman is
her harlotry. The Angel calls her
"The Great Harlot," and she wears on her forehead as her name,
"The mother of the harlots, and of the abominations of the earth."
Harlotry is the standing symbol in the word of God for a debauched worship,
idolatry, and false devotion.
2. This conclusion is rendered the more necessary by the name
which this Woman has written upon her forehead. How could she be "the
mother of the harlots and of the abominations of the earth" if her
existence does not date back to, and above all include, the great harlotries
and abominations. The imagery, therefore, goes back to the beginnings, out of
which all false systems, and false worships, and abominations of the earth have
come.
3. Accordingly, also, we have in the very front of this
Woman's name a designation which carries us back to the commencement of the
whole ill-condition of things in this present world.
Turning to these chapters of national origins, we learn
that the
beginning of the kingdom of Nimrod, the grandson of Ham, was Bab-el, or Babylon, in the land
of Shinar, whither the then inhabitants of the earth, who were as yet of one
language and one speech, journeyed together from the East. This implication is,
that they came thither under the leadership of Nimrod, whose name means a rebellious panther, and that under him began
that first great work of rebellion against God which brought the confusion of
tongues, and inaugurated the original of all the subsequent harlotries and
abominations of mankind. Against the command and known intent of the Almighty,
it was there undertaken to "build a city and a tower whose top might reach
unto heaven," and to make themselves a name that they might not be
scattered abroad upon the face of the earth. It appears, also, that from the
hunting and slaying of wild beasts, and with the armed forces grouped around
him in that business, Nimrod betook himself to the subjugation and enslavement
of men, compelling them into his service and daring schemes. Thus he
"began to be a mighty one in the earth, the organizer of an arbitrary
imperialism over against the patriarchal order and the divine institutes. The
Arab records tell us that he was the first king, and thus the beginner of all
kingcraft and tyranny which have since so much oppressed the world. It is said
of him that he professed to have seen a golden crown in the sky, that he had
one made like it, and that he put it on his own head, and thus claimed to rule
in the name and as the earthly impersonation of the powers of the sky, either
as Orion or the Sun.
The Bible says that it was further arranged for the
people to make for themselves "a name,"--a Sem, token, sign, banner,
ensign, or mark of confederation, fellowship, and organized unity, as an
undivided people, lest they should become dispersed over the earth into
separate societies. (Compare Jer_13:11; Jer_33:9; Eze_39:13; Zep_3:20.) Against God they had determined to hold together, and
they wished to have a badge, standard, something by which they could be known,
and in which they could all glory and rejoice as the centre and crown of their
unity. That Sem, or Sema, was to be a mark of consolidated greatness, a
loftiness and pride to them; that is, in the language of the time, a Sema-Rama.
Thus we have the name of the mythic Semiramis, the Dove-Goddess, which was the
ensign of all the Assyrian princes, and which figures so largely as Ashtaroth,
Astarte, the heavenly Aphrodite, and Venus. Semiramis is said to have been the
wife of Nimrod; so that the Sem, or token, of the Nimrodic confederation was
probably the image of his wife, with a dove upon her head, with wings spread
like the horns of the new moon. This, in the language of the time, would be
called Sema-Rama, because the great Sem, name, or token, of the combination
against being scattered abroad. The symbol of such a name or confederation
would naturally and almost necessarily take the place of a god, and become the
holy mother, the great heavenly protectress, the giver of greatness and
prosperity to those rallying under it.
So again, Nimrod called his first and capital city
Bab-el, which, in the language of the time, means The Gate of God; of course not the God of Noah and Shem, for the whole
proceeding was in known and intended antagonism to the true God and His will
and commands. Hebraistically, and by way of accommodation to the judgment which
Jehovah there inflicted, Babel is made significant of confusion (Gen_11:9), but
in the original application of the name it means The Gate of God. Thus, in the very name of the place, we have the
intimation and proof that these Nimrodic proceedings were not only the organization
of a new and oppressive style of government, but with it, as an essential part
of it, the inauguration of a new and idolatrous religion, the parent apostasy
of the postdiluvian world.
The Bible says that Nimrod was a mighty hunter before the
Lord. The
Targum of Jonathan interprets this to mean that he was a mighty rebel before the
Lord, the mightiest rebel before the Lord that ever was in the earth. The Jerusalem Targum reads
it that he was mighty
in sin before
the Lord, a hunter of the sons of men, exhorting them to leave the judgments of
Shem and adhere to the judgments of Nimrod. Hence it was the proverb concerning
every notorious adventurer in wickedness and oppression, As the mighty Nimrod
in rebellion and sin before God. Jarchi accordingly understands the record to
be, that Nimrod was a most brazen offender, who did not fear or hesitate to
withstand God to his very face. And every intimation concerning him shows that
he was the Heaven-defying founder of a new system of rule and worship, instituting
a government by brute force and earthly wisdom and policy, and a religion which
quite abolished the true God, and set men to the adoration of the sun (Nimrod),
moon (Semiramis), and stars (her son Damu),
impersonated in himself, wife, relatives, and chief consociates, and
represented in the idol standards of his kingdom.
Semiramis
was the instigator in forming the false religion aimed at supporting their
rule, and of course her suggestion fell upon open
ears. Bryce Self
It is a mistake to suppose that idolatry was the gradual
growth of well-disposed but unenlightened human thinking. Its rise was sudden.
It was conceived in intentional rebellion. It was the invention of a proud and
tyrannous ambition at war with Jehovah's commands. It was brought into being to
counteract the will and worship of the true and known God. It was the creature
and handmaid of power for the deification of "the lust of the flesh, the
lust of the eyes, and the pride of life "in the place of the Creator. And it
originated with old Babylon, and Babylon's first king, the great rebel Nimrod
Whatever changes or additions came, it still was old
Babylon, which ever abides, potent through all the ages, and known to the
judgment angels as "Babylon the great, the mother of the harlots and of
the abominations of the earth."
4. It is further said of this Woman that "the
inhabitants of the earth were made drunk from the wine of her
fornication." Ancient lore now comes to our assistance, and
tells us that the wife of Nimrod-bar-Cush was the infamous Semiramis, the
First. She is reputed to have been the founder of the Babylonian mysteries and
the first high-priestess of idolatry. Thus Babylon became the fountainhead of
idolatry, and the mother of every heathen and pagan system in the world. The
mystery-religion that was originated there spread in various forms throughout
the whole earth . Bryce Self
The cup held out is golden. The cup is one; and in all the varied systems of false faith and false
worship which taint our world there is held out and received but one and the
same essence, and that essence is the harlotry of old Babylon. It is most
direct in Paganism; but it is in Mohammedanism, in Papalism, in the degenerate
Catholicism of the Eastern churches, and in all the heretical isms,
infidelities, and mere goodishnesses which afflict our Protestant Christianity
as well. So true is it that Great Babylon, the mother of the harlots and of the
abominations of the earth, hath made the inhabitants of the earth drunk with
the wine of her fornication.
5. This Women is also herself drunken-"drunken from the
blood of the saints, and from the blood of the martyrs or witnesses of
Jesus." "In her was found the blood of prophets, and of saints, and
all that have been slain [as martyrs] upon the earth. It is very certain, and
beyond dispute, that all the persecution and slaying of saints, and prophets,
and witnesses for God that have ever occurred upon earth, past or present;
ancient or modern, stand charged against the mystic kingdom of idolaters, false
religionists, and such as accepted fellowship with spiritual harlotry.
Persecution of God's prophets or people is itself a mark and evidence of
spiritual whoredom. It shows alienation from God and His true worship. And
wherever such presentation finds place, or saints are sacrificed for their
faith, there this great Harlot is in living and visible force and presence,
whether among Pagans or Jews, Mohammedans or Christians, Catholics or
Protestants. It is the old Nimrod the SUN god and Semiramis the MOON goddess over
again, tyrannously enforcing murderous will against the will and commands of
God.
6. Again, this mystic Woman sits upon many waters, which
waters the angel says "are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and
tongues." There is a vastness and universality in these terms, and in the
extent of these symbolic waters extending over many peoples, multitudes,
nations, and tongues, there are many many more peoples, and far greater
multitudes, and numbers of nations, and tongues which make up the seat,
dependence, and support of this great Harlot. At one period or another she has
been found sitting on every people, and nation, and tongue, since the tongues
or multitudes of men have been sundered.
Here
is some of the Article that started my Question. (emphasis is mine)
The horizon must be taken here as wide
as possible; for the question as to the origin of theology can only be answered
by surveying all the relations into which the Christian religion has entered in
naturalizing itself in the world and subduing it. When ecclesiastical dogma has
once been created and recognized as an immediate expression of the Christian
religion, the history of dogma has only to take the history of theology into
account so far as it has been active in the formation of dogma. Yet it must
always keep in view the peculiar claim of dogma to be a criterion and not a
product of theology. But it will also be able to show how, partly by means of
theology and partly by other means-for dogma is also dependent on ritual, constitution, and the practical ideals
of life, as well as on the letter, whether of Scripture, or of tradition no longer understood-dogma in its development and re-expression has continually changed,
according to the conditions under which the Church was placed. If dogma is
originally the formulation of Christian faith as culture (all of the ancient
mystic, dualistic, “Faith Wisdom {pistis sophia}”, Jewish Tradition, and Greek
philosophy) understood it and justified it to itself, then dogma has
never indeed lost this character, though it has been radically modified in
later times.
This conviction had to be immediately
tested by the Old Testament, that is, the task was imposed on the majority of
thinking Christians, by the circumstances in which the Gospel had been proclaimed
to them, of making the Old Testament intelligible to themselves, in other
words, of using this book as a Christian book, and of finding the means by
which they might be able to repel the Jewish claim to it, and refute the Jewish
interpretation of it. This task would not have been imposed, far less solved,
if the Christian communities in the Empire had not entered into
the inheritance of the Jewish Traditions, propaganda which had already been
greatly influenced by foreign religions (Babylonian and Persian, see the Jewish
Apocalypses), and in which an extensive spiritualizing of the Old Testament
religion had already taken place. This spiritualizing was the result of a
philosophic view of religion, and this philosophic view was the outcome of a
lasting influence of Greek philosophy and of the Greek spirit generally on
Judaism. In consequence of this view, all facts and sayings of the Old
Testament in which one could not find his way, were allegorised. "Nothing was what it seemed, but
was only the symbol of something invisible. The
history of the Old Testament was here sublimated to a history of the
emancipation of reason from passion."
This necessary allegorical
interpretation, however, brought into the communities an intellectual
philosophic element, a gnosis, which was perfectly distinct from the
Apocalyptic dreams, in which were beheld angel hosts on white horses, Christ
with eyes as a flame of fire, hellish beasts, conflict and victory. In this
γνωσις (gnosis), which attached itself to the Old Testament, many began
to see the specific blessing which was promised to mature faith, and through
which it was to attain perfection. What a wealth of relations, hints, and
intuitions seemed to disclose itself, as soon as the Old Testament was
considered allegorically, and to what extent had the way been prepared here by
the Jewish philosophic teachers! From the simple narratives of the Old Testament
had already been developed a theosophy, in which the most abstract ideas had
acquired reality, and from which sounded forth the Hellenic canticle of the
power of the Spirit over matter and sensuality, and of the true home of the
soul. Whatever in this great adaptation still remained obscure and unnoticed,
was now lighted up by the history of Jesus, his birth, his life, his sufferings
and triumph. The view of the Old Testament as a document of the deepest wisdom,
transmitted to those who knew how to read it as such, unfettered the
intellectual interest which would not rest until it had entirely transferred
the new religion from the world of feelings, actions and hopes, into the world
of Hellenic conceptions, and transformed it into a metaphysic.
(Jewish encyclopedia.)
End notes and References.
1.
MYSTERY,
BABYLON THE GREAT BY BARBARA AHO
http://watch.pair.com/mystery-babylon.html#cabala
2.
Web pages that tell this story:
{
Zoroasther: http://tenets.zoroastrianism.com/; http://www.infoplease.com/encyclopedia/society/zoroastrianism-origins-beliefs.html ;
3.
Title:
ANF08. ANTE-NICENE FATHERS 08
Schaff,
Philip (1819-1893) (Editor)
Chapter
XXIX.--Fire-Worship of the Persians.
"First among whom is named a certain king Nimrod, the magic art having
been handed down to him as by a flash, whom the Greeks, also called
Ninus, and from whom the city of Nineveh took its name. Thus,
therefore, diverse and erratic superstitions took their beginning from
the magic art. For, because it was difficult to draw away the human
race from the love of God, and attach them to deaf and lifeless images,
the magicians made use of higher efforts, that men might be turned to
erratic worship, by signs among the stars, and motions brought down as
it were from heaven, and by the will of God. And those who had been
first deceived, collecting the ashes of Zoroaster,--who, as we have
said, was burnt up by the indignation of the demon, to whom he had been
too troublesome,--brought them to the Persians, that they might be
preserved by them with perpetual watching, as divine fire fallen from
heaven, and might be worshipped as a heavenly God.
This fire-worship the Persian Magi did not pretend to
have invented; but their popular story carried the origin of it up to the days
of Hoshang, the father of Tahmurs, who founded Babylon (WILSON, pp. 202, 203,
and 579)---i.e., the time of Nimrod. In confirmation of this, we have seen that
a fragment of Apollodorus (Muller, 68) makes Ninus the head of the
fire-worshippers. Layard, quoting this fragment, supposes Ninus to be different
from Zoroaster (Nineveh and its Remains, vol. ii. p. 443, Note); but it can be
proved, that though many others bore the name of Zoraster, the lines of
evidence all converge, so as to demonstrate that Ninus and Nimrod and Zoroaster
were one. The legends of Zoroaster show that he was known not only as a Magus,
but as a Warrior (ARNOBIUS, lib. i. p. 327).
