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Please Note: Nothing on this website should be taken as anti-Church. I am not anti-anything or anyone. I am only pro-Torah and pro-Truth. Sometimes the Truth upsets our long-held beliefs. Why isn’t my theology consistent throughout this website?
Beit Midrash
(House of Learning)
Babylon’s Mystery Religion
The Source of All False Religions
(Including the pagan aspects of Christianity)
Please note that since we have no written records dating back to the time of ancient Babel, and since nobody living today was around to witness either the events at Babel or those in fourth-century Rome, not all the information in this article can be proven. This is simply my best effort to piece together a summary of what I have been able to learn about the subject from numerous sources (some reliable and some not so reliable) over the past several years. It is not intended to be authoritative, nor is it intended as an attack on Christianity. It is well known, however, and readily admitted by most honest Christians, that there is much paganism in the church today (though they may hesitate to call it by that name), and most people simply choose to look the other way rather than to confront error that they find in their church or synagogue. Pastors don’t confront the error because it would be professional suicide; most parishioners don’t mention it because they love the fellowship they find in their congregation, don’t want to be ostracized for “stirring up trouble,” and they don’t know of any acceptable alternative fellowship. Of course, there are those who are silent because it simply doesn’t matter to them. I personally find all three attitudes abhorrent, but that’s just me. All that being said, this is my best honest estimate of where much of the error originated. If you disagree, you are certainly welcome to do so.
 The Tower of Babel  Reconstruction of Ur-Nammu’s ziggurat, based on the 1939 reconstruction by Woolley (vol. V, fig. 1.4) |
Genealogy from Adam
Adam, Seth, Enosh, Kenan, Mahalalel, Jared, Enoch, Methuselah, Lamech,
Noah, Shem, Ham and Japheth. …
The sons of Ham were Cush, Mizraim, Put, and Canaan. …
Cush became the father of Nimrod; he began to be a mighty one in the earth.
(1 Chronicles
1:1-10)
Descendants of Noah
Now these are the records of the generations of Shem, Ham, and Japheth, the sons of Noah; and sons were born to them after the flood. … From these the coastlands of the nations were separated into their lands, every one according to his language, according to their families, into their nations.
The sons of Ham were Cush and Mizraim and Put and Canaan.
The sons of Cush were Seba and Havilah and Sabtah and Raamah and Sabteca …
Now Cush became the father of Nimrod.
He [Nimrod] became a mighty one on the earth. He was a mighty hunter before the LORD; therefore it is said, “Like Nimrod a mighty hunter before the LORD.” The beginning of his kingdom was Babel and Erech and Accad and Calneh, in the land of Shinar. From that land he went forth into Assyria, and built Nineveh and Rehoboth-Ir and Calah, and Resen between Nineveh and Calah; that is the great city. (Genesis 10:1-12)
These are the families of the sons of Noah, according to their genealogies, by their nations; and out of these the nations were separated on the earth after the flood. (Genesis 10:32)
Universal Language, Babel, Confusion
The whole earth used the same language, the same words. It came about that as they traveled from the east, they found a plain in the land of Shin‘ar and lived there. They said to one another, “Come, let’s make bricks and bake them in the fire.” So they had bricks for building-stone and clay for mortar. Then they said, “Come, let’s build ourselves a city with a tower that has its top reaching up into heaven, so that we can make a name for ourselves and not be scattered all over the earth.”
ADONAI came down to see the city and the tower the people were building. ADONAI said, “Look, the people are united, they all have a single language, and see what they’re starting to do! At this rate, nothing they set out to accomplish will be impossible for them! Come, let’s go down and confuse their language, so that they won’t understand each other’s speech.” So from there ADONAI scattered them all over the earth, and they stopped building the city. For this reason it is called Bavel [confusion] — because there ADONAI confused the language of the whole earth, and from there ADONAI scattered them all over the earth. (Genesis 11:1-9, CJB)
The Hebrew word babel means “confusion (by mixing)” and is derived from balal which means “to mix, mingle, confuse, confound.”
Who Was Nimrod?
Nimrod was called “a mighty hunter before the LORD.” The Hebrew word for “before” in Genesis 10:9 is פָנִים (paw-neem') which can also be translated as “from the presence of,” “from before the face of,” or “against.” Nimrod was a mighty hunter of men who pitted himself against the LORD. As nearly as can be determined by modern scholarship, Nimrod, whose name means Rebel, lived for 215 years during the 21st and 22nd centuries B.C.E. and was a contemporary of Abraham.
The Septuagint renders it “against ADONAI.” Nimrod intended to provoke the LORD to his face: so it is said proverbially that when any man is grown mighty and powerful, or is notoriously wicked, or is become a tyrant and an oppressor of the people, that he is “even as Nimrod the mighty hunter before the Lord.”[1]
“There are some in whom ambition and affectation of dominion seem to be bred in the bone; such there have been and will be, notwithstanding the wrath of God often revealed from heaven against them. Nothing on this side of hell will humble and break the proud spirits of some men, in this like Lucifer, Isaiah 14:14-15. …
He [Nimrod] was a mighty hunter, that is, he was a violent invader of his neighbours’ rights and properties, and a persecutor of innocent men, carrying all before him, and endeavouring to make all his own by force and violence. He thought himself a mighty prince, but before the Lord (that is, in God’s account) he was but a mighty hunter.
Nimrod was a mighty hunter against the Lord…; that is,
(1) He set up idolatry, as Jeroboam did, for the confirming of his usurped dominion. That he might set up a new government, he set up a new religion upon the ruin of the primitive constitution of both. Babel was the mother of harlots. Or,
(2) He carried on his oppression and violence in defiance of God himself, daring Heaven with his impieties, as if he and his huntsmen could out-brave the Almighty, and were a match for the Lord of hosts and all his armies. As if it were a small thing to weary men, he thinks to weary my God also, Isaiah 7:13. …
Nimrod was a great ruler: The beginning of his kingdom was Babel, v. 10. Some way or other, by arts or arms, he got into power, either being chosen to it or forcing his way to it; and so laid the foundations of a monarchy, which was afterwards a head of gold [Daniel 2:32-38], and the terror of the mighty, and bade fair to be universal. …
Nimrod was a great builder. Probably he was architect in the building of Babel, and there he began his kingdom; but, when his project to rule all the sons of Noah was baffled by the confusion of tongues, out of that land he went forth into Assyria (so the margin reads it, v. 11) and built Nineveh, etc., that, having built these cities, he might command them and rule over them.
Observe, in Nimrod, the nature of ambition.
1. It is boundless. Much would have more, and still cries, Give, give.
2. It is restless. Nimrod, when he had four cities under his command, could not be content till he had four more.
3. It is expensive. Nimrod will rather be at the charge of rearing cities than not have the honour of ruling them. The spirit of building is the common effect of a spirit of pride.
4. It is daring, and will stick at nothing. Nimrod’s name signifies rebellion, which (if indeed he did abuse his power to the oppression of his neighbours) teaches us that tyrants to men are rebels to God, and their rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft.[2]
Cedrenus (Apud Abrami Pharum, l. 5. sect. 6. p. 128) says that the Assyrians deified Nimrod
(or Nebrod), placed him among the constellations of heaven, and called him Orion.
Since they believed that Nimrod, as Orion, first discovered the art of hunting, they
associated Orion with the star Sirius, called the Dog Star.
Though he might have been a mighty hunter in the literal sense, he was also one in a figurative sense, a tyrannical ruler and governor of men. The Targum of Jonathan says, “he was a powerful rebel before the Lord.” The Jerusalem Targum says, “he was powerful in hunting in sin before the Lord.”
The Jewish writer Rabbi Gedaliah (Shalshalet Hakabala, fol. 76. 2) says he was called a mighty hunter because he was all his days taking provinces by force, and spoiling others of their substance; and that he was “before the Lord” in the sense of seeing and taking notice of it, openly and publicly, and without fear of Him, and in a bold and impudent manner. He was, quite literally, right in God’s face about his rebellion.
Nim’rod, whose name means “rebellion” or “the valiant,” was a son of Kush [Cush], the grandson of Ham, and the great-grandson of Noach [Noah]. He was the founder of the city of Babel [later renamed Babylon] and first ruler of the Babylonian empire, the founder of astrology, and builder of the tower of Babel, which was very probably an observatory for the study of astrology.[3] After his death the people of Babel claimed that he was resurrected as the god Tammuz, who was believed to be both the son and husband of Semiramis. This marked the beginning of all pagan religions, and particularly the Babylonian Mystery Religion and all of its variants.
According to some traditions, Nimrod is the
same person as Zoroaster, who founded Zoroastrianism in ancient Iran approximately 3500
years ago. Nimrod is also known as Jupiter, Osiris, and
The “Queen of Heaven”
The “Queen of Heaven” (the wife or consort of Ba'al) is known by many names, including (but not limited to) Ashtoreth, Ishtar, Semiramis, Venus, Artemis, Diana, etc. In her Babylonian-Canaanite incarnation she was not only the goddess of fortune and happiness, but also a violent warrior goddess and goddess of all forms of “gender confusion.” She is the consort of Ba'al. She is not a mythological character; rather she is a spirit entity, alive and active in the world today, the spirit that is driving the Gay Pride movement and all its related activities. See The Return of the Gods by Jonathan Cahn for her current activities in the western world. See Lev. 17:7; Deut. 32:17; Psalm 106:37; Eph. 6:12; 1Cor. 10:20.
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“They also elevated his mother/wife Semiramis to a position of deity and worshipped her as ‘the Queen of Heaven.’ As Queen of Heaven she has been worshipped as Semiramis, Ashtoreth, Astarte, Ishtar, Inanna, Venus, Artemis (of the Ephesians), and Diana, among other names and designations of the fertility goddess, and now Miriam [Mary], the mother of Yeshua HaMashiach, is worshipped by many as the current reigning “Queen of Heaven.”
Ishtar is phonetically the word from which “Easter” is derived, thus the ancient worship of the fertility goddess Ashtoreth is preserved in bunnies (because rabbits are the ultimate expression of fertility), baby chicks, and spring flowers (symbols of new life). God took the kingdom from Solomon and delivered it to Jeroboam “because they have forsaken Me, and have worshiped Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians” (1 Kings 11:33) — that is, because they celebrated the “Feast of Ishtar” (Easter). So one must ask the question, why do most Christians feel that God would have changed His mind and now approve of the celebration of Ishtar with its bunnies, baby chicks, and spring flowers?
The events of
Nimrod’s life are recorded in Genesis 10:8 ff. (quoted above), from which we learn
(1) that he was a Cushite;
According to the Jewish historian Flavius Josephus:
Now it was Nimrod who excited them to such an affront and contempt of God. He was the grandson of Ham, the son of Noah, a bold man, and of great strength of hand. He persuaded them not to ascribe it to God, as if it were through his means they were happy, but to believe that it was their own courage which procured that happiness. He also gradually changed the government into tyranny, seeing no other way of turning men from the fear of God, but to bring them into a constant dependence on his power. He also said he would be revenged on God, if he should have a mind to drown the world again; for that he would build a tower too high for the waters to reach. And that he would avenge himself on God for destroying their forefathers.
Now the multitude were very ready to follow the determination of Nimrod, and to esteem it a piece of cowardice to submit to God; and they built a tower, neither sparing any pains, nor being in any degree negligent about the work: and, by reason of the multitude of hands employed in it, it grew very high, sooner than any one could expect; but the thickness of it was so great, and it was so strongly built, that thereby its great height seemed, upon the view, to be less than it really was. It was built of burnt brick, cemented together with mortar, made of bitumen, that it might not be liable to admit water. When God saw that they acted so madly, he did not resolve to destroy them utterly, since they were not grown wiser by the destruction of the former sinners; but he caused a tumult among them, by producing in them diverse languages, and causing that, through the multitude of those languages, they should not be able to understand one another. The place wherein they built the tower is now called Babylon, because of the confusion of that language which they readily understood before; for the Hebrews mean by the word Babel, confusion…
An ancient Jewish myth teaches that Abraham was considered a rival for Nimrod’s throne, and the infant Abraham was miraculously preserved when Nimrod, like Herod in later years, slaughtered all the male newborns when a new star was seen to be rising in the east.
The Origins of Astrology
The Bible gives us a very short narrative of
the city of Babel in
Genesis 11:1-9. At this time in history everyone on earth spoke
the same language, apparently the same language ADONAI
had given to Adam and Eve at creation.
When the waters of the Flood receded, the Bible tells us that “the ark rested unon the mountains [plural] of Ararat.” (Genesis 8:4) “Then God spoke to Noah, saying, ‘Go out of the ark, you and your wife and your sons and your sons’ wives with you. Bring out with you every living thing of all flesh that is with you, birds and animals and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, that they may breed abundantly on the earth, and be fruitful and multiply on the earth. … and fill the earth.” (Genesis 8:15-17; 9:1)
Apparently, the vast majority of the people decided there was strength in numbers, and together they migrated to the land of Shinar. Although God had commanded them to fill the earth (spreading out was certainly implied in that directive), the people decided instead to “build for ourselves a city, and a tower whose top will reach into heaven, and let us make for ourselves a name, otherwise we will be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth.” (Genesis 11:4)
A literal rendering of Genesis 11:4 reads, “… let us build for ourselves … a tower, and at the top, the heavens…” This is very probably the oldest reference to the astrological signs of the Zodiac, which formed the basis for the religion that Nimrod developed in ancient Babylon. It was still practiced by apostate Jews a thousand years later (Jeremiah 19:13).
Within only three generations after the Flood (Noah, Ham, Cush, Nimrod), humanity had again turned its collective back on God. Apparently they felt more comfortable in dealing with the gods that they had created for themselves, gods who wouldn’t bring floods, gods who wouldn’t hold them accountable for their evil deeds, gods whom they could control. (That sounds to me very much like today.)
The tower that they constructed was apparently to serve four purposes: it was to be tall enough that it would be above the flood waters in the event that God reneged on His covenant to never again destroy the earth with water; it would serve as an astronomical observatory; it would serve as a temple in which to worship the stellar gods of their own creation; and it would be a monument to the ingenuity of mankind (it would “make a name” for themselves).
According to Wikipedia, “astrology consists of several systems of divination based on the premise that there is a relationship between astronomical phenomena and events in the human world. Many cultures have attached importance to astronomical events and have developed elaborate systems for predicting terrestrial events from celestial observations. … Astrology has been dated to at least the 2nd millennium BCE, with roots in calendrical systems used to predict seasonal shifts and to interpret celestial cycles as signs of divine communications. … A form of astrology was practised in the first dynasty of Mesopotamia (1950–1651 BCE). In Rome, astrology was associated with “Chaldean wisdom” [a euphemism for the form of the Babylon Mystery Religion that was practiced in Rome]. … Astrology, in its broadest sense, is the search for meaning in the sky. … By the 3rd millennium BCE, civilizations had sophisticated awareness of celestial cycles, and may have oriented temples in alignment with heliacal risings of the stars.”
The American Federation of Astrologers credits the Babylonians with the birth of astrology.
The Rise of the Babylon Mystery Religion
This article is reproduced without the permission of the author solely for the purpose of education in accordance with the “Fair Use” provisions of 17USC107. If you are the copyright holder and want this article removed, contact me and I will immediately remove it. Source: http://mystery-babylon.org/originsofbabylontwo.html, accessed 06/16/20
 Location of Babylon and Ur of the Chaldees Used with permission of BibleAtlas.org |
The religion formed by Cush and Nimrod marked the beginning of polytheism in the post-flood world: the worship of many gods. The snake, sun, and fire became their symbols of god on earth. Human sacrifice became openly practiced.[6] Even though God wanted His people to spread out and only serve Him, Nimrod, through the empire and religion of Babylon, began to unite the people — all under his “one-world government.” This early Babylonian religion began to be abhorred by pious, God-following generations of the era. One of them, Noah’s son Shem, decided to do something about it.
According to tradition, Shem gathered 72 co-conspirators to help him, and all of them made their way to the palace where Nimrod lived. After catching him in a double-cross, Shem killed Nimrod, and cut his body into little pieces! He alerted his co-conspirators — each of them — to take a piece of Nimrod’s body and distribute it to the cities under his rule. They did as they were told. All of this gore had a purpose, however: to show the world, proof-positively, that Nimrod wasn’t a god. It was Shem’s warning to all of Nimrod’s followers: stop what they were doing and start obeying God, or else![7]
Nimrod’s followers became very frightened. They worshipped him as a god - a god who would live forever. Now, he was dead; the validity of his religion was in question. Cush, his father, was already shamed for his actions previously. He, also, was not able to unite the people under this system as Nimrod could. Their whole system of control had to go in a different direction.
The way they maintained their power would be accomplished by another up-and-coming character: a woman.
Little-known by her proper name, Semiramis was to be exalted to one of the most famous women since the flood! She was Cush’s wife at the time of the tower, and was also the mother of Nimrod! After Cush was disgraced, subtle Semiramis did not want to go down with him. To maintain her reputation, she did the unthinkable: marrying her own son![8]
By marrying Nimrod, Semiramis could still maintain somewhat of a position of authority — as long as her husband remained in power, so did she. Once Nimrod was murdered, however, Semiramis was, once again, in danger of losing all she had.
Not so long after, Semiramis was pregnant; the father unknown. This was her golden opportunity to further corrupt those looking for answers.
If we recall, from Cain: Seed of the Serpent, there was a famous prophecy, given by God, to Adam and Eve:
And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy (the serpent’s) seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. (Genesis 3:15, KJV)
This prophecy was well-known to the people of Noah’s day. It simply stated that, one day, a savior would be born — one that would arise from the seed of Eve. This savior would “bruise the head” of the serpent and any of his seed, in order to save the people from their worldly sins. Semiramis believed that if she could convince the world her unborn son was the one who would “save the world,” she might still retain her power. What if her unborn child was “the promised seed” — the one destined to “crush the serpent’s head,” the one to remove the curse of sin and death Adam allowed in the garden? He would, practically, be a god in his own right. Her unborn child, according to Semiramis, would be just that — none other than Nimrod reborn.[9]
According to her, Nimrod reincarnated himself in her womb. Semiramis “slept with no man,” and became pregnant by his “holy” spirit. Sound familiar?
In the end, this slaughter of Nimrod was actually a good thing. He now was a martyr. Nimrod died for the sins of the whole world, and rose again as this child. Semiramis would, naturally, be looked upon as the “great mother” — or virgin — a necessary part of this wonderful, miraculous birth.[10] I'm sure it sounds familiar by now!
Yes, this was the greatest twist in the history of the world — the twist of Jesus Christ.
Now, this corruption of God’s prophesy would rob millions of what would be the true savior of the world — Jesus Christ. The people now began to accept Nimrod as the fulfilment of prophecy. His death saved everyone from the curse of the Garden.
Semiramis, naturally, became deified — she was “mother of the child.” Many of the images the people created for her looked like this:[11]
Now, this image of mother and child, two thousands years before the true birth of Christ, became the object of worship. Ultimately, the Babylonian religion was saved by the borrowing of God’s prophecy, and twisting it all around.
Over time, Nimrod became the basis for the pagan Horned God; Semiramis the Goddess[12]. Semiramis, once again, managed to stop the attempt of Shem and his conspirators to halt the progress of their false religion. She also managed to explain away any doubt and confusion that steeped in the minds of her believers. Nimrod didn't die, ultimately. He was born into a god, again.[13]
The Babylonian religion of old seemed harsh to some. Now — to make the religion look more pure and wholesome — there had to be changes in here, as well. No longer could some of their graphic practices be openly practiced. No more human sacrifice out in the open, for example. Their whole religion had to change — to make sure that no-one of God (like Shem) would be able to go to such a high levels again, and almost devastate their control!
The system that began in Babylon — the knowledge, authority, beliefs and culture — eventually molded and assimilated into each political empire and religious theology that succeeded the former. God was still their enemy. His ways were not these ways. Man’s thought became the measure of all things. These two avenues of belief have at odds with each other since the beginning — even after the Babylonian system went through these changes.
The rise of Christianity, eventually, would push many of the old, harsher-looking facets of the old Babylonian religion under cover. A once-great city (and system) would, over time, also be able to assimilate itself into a number of ideologies — often finding itself into various thoughts and ideals behind our major political, religious, and cultural influences! All of these different facets, according to the Bible, can be collectively amassed into one, conglomerate title: MYSTERY BABYLON!
What happened after the adoption of Semiramis' deception can be found in Legacy of Nimrod. It gives details on how one aspect of this Mystery System was even adopted by a descendant of Shem, Esau, and how he used this new-found power towards the establishment of another, more powerful empire and religion. (Copyright 2013, Brett T., All Rights Reserved)
The Babylon Mystery Religion and the Church
The “Church” as we know it today owes most of its form and function to its Roman Catholic ancestor, including virtually all of the pagan practices that have been handed down from Nimrod’s religion. Virtually all of the pagan influence that exists in Christianity today can be traced directly to the Babylonian Mystery Religion that evolved into the Roman Catholic Church.
In 63 BCE Julius Caesar was officially recognized as the head of the Romanized form of the Babylonian Mystery Religion (which, though many different names are used for the gods and goddesses, is in reality the worship of Nimrod and his mother/wife Semiramis, the “Queen of Heaven,” who later became known as Ishtar), and was given the title of Pontifex Maximus, or “supreme bridge” (that is, the supreme bridge between man and the gods). That title was continuously held by the Roman emperor until 376 CE, when Emperor Gratian rejected the title, and transferred it to the Bishop of Rome, the Pope, who retains the title to this day.
When he became Emperor, Constantine (Pontifex Maximus of the Mystery Religion) desired to consolidate his power over both the civil and religious aspects of the Empire (ca. 311). At that time, Judaism (which included Messianic Judaism as a sub-set, or “sect” of Judaism) was one of the “authorized” religions of the Empire. Constantine, who never actually became a Believer in Messiah, simply decreed that his more-inclusive religion, which came to be known as “Christianity,” would be the “official” and only acceptable religion in the Empire.
All Constantine actually did was to take the Roman form of the Babylon Mystery Religion, dress it up with “Bible words,” and change the names of the pantheon of “gods” and “goddesses” to the names of prominent first-century Messianic Believers, particularly the Apostles. The names of the gods and goddesses were then removed from their statues in the Roman temples, their new names were chiseled into place, and the “worship” of these gods and goddesses continued as “the veneration of saints.” (For example, the mother of Nimrod, who was worshipped as the “Queen of Heaven,” was renamed “Mary” and continued to be worshipped as the “Queen of Heaven,” and the statue of “Peter” that presently stands in the Vatican is actually a statue of the Roman god Jupiter, which has simply been renamed.)[14]
The first level of pagan priests under Constantine was known as the “circle” and apparently derived that name from their practice of meeting in a circle to worship the sun. Sun worship was so prevalent in ancient Rome that they named the first day of the week Sun-day, and had a law that no work could be done on Sun-day under penalty of death.
Constantine simply appointed the priests from the Mystery Religion as “bishops” (presently called the College of Cardinals) in his new hybrid religion, and he himself continued to rule over them as their “high priest” (Pontifex Maximus). He then called the Council of Nicaea, to which only the Gentile bishops were invited, and made the observance of any Jewish tradition punishable by death. Passover, Unleavened Bread, and First Fruits were replaced with the Feast of Ishtar; Shabbat (Sabbath) worship was replaced with Sun-day worship; Messiah’s birthday observance was moved from Sukkot (Tabernacles) to Saturnalia (the “sun god’s” feast day, December 17-23)[15]; all Hebrew versions of the Scriptures (including all extant Hebrew copies of the Apostolic Writings) were destroyed; and all Messianic Jewish Believers were given the choice to either become “Gentile Christian” or die.
By the time the Bible was finally translated into English, the entire pagan Roman cult had come to be known as “the circle” and this term was later rendered into Old and Middle English as the word “church,” and it was filled with all sorts of pagan practices. To list just a few:
• The pagan worship of the sun god Saturn on sun-day has replaced God’s Sabbath.
• The pagan feast of Saturn (Saturnalia) in late December has replaced the observance of Messiah’s birthday during Tabernacles.
• The pagan feast of Ishtar has replaced Passover, the Feast of Unleavened Bread, and the Feast of First Fruits.
• The pagan worship of gods and demi-gods (the “veneration of saints”) and objects (the “veneration of images”) is absolutely prohibited by the God of the Bible.
• The pagan observation of “Lent” has absolutely no basis in Scripture.
• The pagan authority of Pontifex Maximus has replaced the authority of Scripture. (If you are not a Catholic and you claim that the Pope holds no authority over you, then why do you practice all of the above pagan observances that he has commanded?)
• The pagan practice of baptism at the hands of the priesthood (clergy) has replaced the self-immersion (tevilah) of new believers.
• The periodic repetition Messiah’s atoning sacrifice (the “mass” for Catholics, which has become “communion” for Protestants) is rooted in the pagan worship of the sun-god Saturn. Messiah instructed His disciples to observe Kiddush (not the eucharist, communion, or “Lord’s Supper”) in remembrance of Him.
See also “Where Did the Word ‘Church’ Come From?”
1. Genesis 10:9, John Gill’s Exposition of the Bible. [RETURN]
2. Gill, ibid. [RETURN]
3. Genesis 11:4 says literally, “… let us build for ourselves … a tower, and at the top, the heavens…” This is very probably a reference to the astrological signs of the Zodiac. [BACK]
4. Rev. Alexander Hislop, The Two Babylons (Neptune, New Jersey: Loizeaux Brothers, 1916), 209, 25-26, 20, 30, 230, 297, 22, 43-44, 46, 56, 314, 49, 246. [BACK]
5. Dr. William Smith. Entry for ‘Nimrod’, Smith’s Bible Dictionary, 1901. [BACK]
6. Louis Ginzberg, The Legends of the Jews Volume V: Notes for Volume One and Two, trans. Henrietta Szold (Baltimore, Maryland: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1909), 215. [BACK]
7. Rev. Alexander Hislop, The Two Babylons (Neptune, New Jersey: Loizeaux Brothers, 1916), 66. [BACK]
8. Herman L. Hoeh, Compendium of World History, Vol. 1, Ch. 3, 4, http://www.earth-history.com/Various/Compendium (accessed Dec. 19, 2007). [BACK]
9. Rev. Alexander Hislop, The Two Babylons (Neptune, New Jersey: Loizeaux Brothers, 1916), 305. [BACK]
10. ibid. p. 74-77, 295, 304-06. [BACK]
11. ibid. p. 74, 264. [BACK]
12. As “Queen of Heaven” she has been worshipped as Semiramis, Ashtoreth, Astarte, Ishtar, Venus, Diana, Aphrodite, Cybele or Sybil, Europa, Isis, and Venus, among other names and designations of the fertility goddess, and now Miriam [Mary], the mother of Yeshua HaMashiach, is worshipped by many as the current “Queen of Heaven.” [BACK]
13. William Schnoebelen, Wicca: Satan’s Little White Lie (Chino, CA: Chick Publications, 1990), 172; Rev. Alexander Hislop, The Two Babylons (Neptune, New Jersey: Loizeaux Brothers, 1916), 58. [BACK]
14. Woodrow, Ralph. Babylon Mystery Religion. Riverside, CA: Ralph Woodrow Evangelistic Association, 1966, pp. 79, 89-91. [BACK]
15. According to one rather fanciful tradition, at some point in time, perhaps around the fourth century, the Church was trying to clarify the best date to celebrate Christmas. Knowing that Christianity had its origins in Judaism, and knowing that “Jesus” was a Jew, one of the priests who was working on the project decided to ask a rabbi. The priest, erroneously thinking that Hanukkah was the Jewish equivalent of Christmas, asked the rabbi, “On what day of the month do the Jews celebrate Hanukkah?” [Hanukkah is observed for eight nights and days, starting on the 25th day of Kislev according to the Hebrew calendar, which may occur at any time from late November to late December in the Gregorian calendar.] Without thinking about the difference in the two calendars, the rabbi simply replied, “On the 25th day of the month.” The priest assumed that the rabbi meant the 25th day of December, not the 25th day of Kislev, and reported the date of “the 25th” back to the committee resulting in Christmas now being celebrated on December 25. Probably totally untrue, but I think it makes a cute story and demonstrates how easily error can creep into the practice of our faith. [BACK]
ANXIOUSLY WATCHING FOR MASHIACH’S RETURN,
SPEEDILY AND IN OUR DAY. MARANA, TA!
