Nimrod had a plan
to weld together and strengthen this evil religious system and so he married
his own mother who was Semiramis. She was the first deified queen of Babylon and Nimrod was
the first deified king. Semiramis was as wicked as her son Nimrod, and as much
sold out to Satan and devil worship as did he. Incest was used here as a basis
to unite this newly false religious system. Nimrod and his mother/wife would be
greatly used by Satan in the following centuries to send countless millions and
even billions of souls to hell.
Satan's plan was
to develop a counterfeit, opposition system of religion to attract worship away
from the true God of Heaven. This false system had its sacrificial plan just as
God had a plan of sacrifice. But Satan's pagan worship required the offering up
of human beings, which was often the sons and daughters of the worshipers. A
counterfeit holy day was instituted in honor of the sun god, (Sun-day) and this
was designed by Satan to rob God of his peculiar authority as the Creator of
the universe as designated by His Holy day the Sabbath.
Have
you noticed how occult symbols are typically reversed? Example: The occult
symbol for a cross is an inverted cross. Most have never noticed that God uses
the 6:1 principle. That is, you have 6 of something normal and then on the 7th
something special happens. Example: God created the world in 6 days and the 7th
is a special day of rest and worship. Crops were grown for 6 years and the 7th
year the land was rested. Slaves were kept for 6 years and were to be set free
on the 7th year. There are 6 weeks from Passover to the 7th week being
Pentecost. There are 6 months from Passover to the 7th month being the Day of
Atonement. Bible chronologists say we are currently approaching the end of 6000
years since creation and if Christ returns at the end of 6000 years, we will
then have the 7000th year being the 1000 year millennium.
(See Revelation 20:1-15) So 6000 years + 1000 years (millennium) = 7000 years.
None of this is by chance and is God’s plan. Observe the days of the week
below.
Sunday
Day 1
|
Monday
Day 2
|
Tuesday
Day 3
|
Wednesday
Day 4
|
Thursday
Day 5
|
Friday
Day 6
|
Saturday
7th Day Sabbath
|
The
first six days are normal but the 7th day is the “Sabbath of the
Lord thy God.”
Remember that the occult uses the reverse symbol or is the opposite (in
opposition) to God. So if Sunday was Satan's plan for a day of worship, and we
have seen historically that it is, then his week would be the reverse of God's
week. Instead of being the 6:1 principle it would be 1:6. As seen from the
table below, this is the case and so it is not just two days side by side. It
is the occult equivalent and this is not by chance but Satan's choice.
Sunday
Counterfeit Sabbath
|
Monday
Day 2
|
Tuesday
Day 3
|
Wednesday
Day 4
|
Thursday
Day 5
|
Friday
Day 6
|
Saturday
Day 7
|
We are fast
approaching 6000 years (last generation now) and if Jesus comes at the end of
6000 years we would then have a 1000 year Sabbath. A thousands years a day just
as God said. 2 Peter 3:8 “But, beloved, be
not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand
years, and a thousand years as one day.” Six days work and the Seventh day rest. This Earth’s history may
end up being a mirror image of the creation week but with a thousand years to a
day. That would put a whole new perspective on the meaning of the Sabbath now
that is for sure. 6000 years of working and a 1000 years of rest. God does love
doing things in numbers!
Nimrod's and
Semiramis' followers plunged so deeply into sin and the occult that they even
sacrificed babies to Satan in their worship of him. This became a common
practice until Shem who was one of Noah's three sons and the great uncle of
Nimrod, in his anger and wrath killed Nimrod and cut him up into small pieces
as an example to others not to commit such abominable sins and not to follow
such evil religious practices. (Shem was a godly man and it was through his
seed the Messiah would come.)
Because of Nimrod's
death, the followers of Nimrod and Semiramis were stunned and experienced much
grief. Their religious hero was dead. They were afraid to continue in their
worship of Satan for fear that what happened to Nimrod would also happen to
them. For a short time the practices of this counterfeit religion ceased but
Semiramis, the mother/wife of Nimrod, had a brilliant idea of how she could
successfully revive her and Nimrod's pagan religion and give it a new form.
Semiramis proclaimed that her son/husband Nimrod was then officially a god, and
she as the mother/wife of Nimrod was a goddess. She then announced herself to
be “The Queen of Heaven” and that she should be worshiped as such. She claimed
that her spirit was the moon and when she died she would dwell in the moon,
even as Nimrod was already in the sun. What a devilish brainstorm inspired by
Satan!
Satan was laying
the foundation for every system of falsehood and error the world has ever
known. They took the truth of God and turned it into a lie and “worshipped and
served the creature (on a wider application also includes Satan) more than the
Creator.” Romans 1:25. This system of paganism, while professing to
be the true religion, is actually devil worship. It professes and claims to be
the truth of God but in reality it is Satan's masterpiece, the “mystery of
iniquity.”
As Satan's church
gained momentum, Semiramis pushed this satanic religious order underground. The
followers of this counterfeit religion had to take secret oaths. The secret
societies (some unscriptural lodges of today) thus had their beginning. The
confessionals and priesthood were set up. The followers of this pagan religion
confessed their sins to their priests. (what church continued this unbiblical
pagan tradition?) See also 1 Timothy 2:5, Luke 5:20-21. By so doing, Semiramis could
control her followers and exercise lordship over them. She boldly and brazenly
proclaimed that she and her priests were the only ones who understood the
mysteries of God and that they were the only possible way to God. Because of
dedication to and fear of this false religious system, the followers of this
religion fearfully complied.
Semiramis and her
priests of Satan were deep into the occult, magic and illusion. They were
masters of lies and deception. Everywhere there were statues or idols of this
mother/child cult. Semiramis was soon hailed as “The Queen of Heaven”
(Ashtarte). Her symbol became the moon and her husband/son Nimrod, was then
called “Baal” (the “sun god”) Nimrod's symbol became the sun. The city of Babylon was the seat of
Satan worship until its fall to the Medes and the Persians in 539 BC. At this
time the Babylonian pagan priests left Babylon
and went to Alexandria
and Pergamos. See 666 number of the beast or the origin of 666 for more.
It should be noted
that the majority of the Babylonian pagan priests went to Pergamos more so than
Alexandria, so for many centuries after the fall of Babylon, Pergamos became
the new seat of Satan (Revelation 2:12-13), but around 129 BC,
opportunity arose for them to leave Pergamos and go to Rome and thus Rome
became the final seat of Satan where he set up his church, and hence sun
worship, which was practised on Sunday, was most prevalent in Alexandria and
Rome by the time of Christ.
Church historian
Socrates Scholasticus (5th century) wrote: “For although almost all churches throughout the
world celebrate the sacred mysteries [of the Lord's Supper] on the Sabbath of
every week, yet the Christians of Alexandria and
at Rome, on
account of some ancient tradition, have ceased to do this.” – Socrates Scholasticus, Ecclesiastical
History, Book 5, ch. 22.
So Baal worship
was in full swing. It caught on fast and spread to many parts of the world. In Egypt,
Semiramis became known as “Isis”, “The Queen of Heaven.” Nimrod became known as
“Osiris”, the husband/son, and frequently called “Horus” (the sun god). In Phoenicia, Semiramis and Nimrod were worshipped
as or known as Ashterath and Tammuz; in Greece,
Aphrodite and Eros; in Rome, Venus and Cupid,
and in China,
Mother Shing Moo and her child.
When the cold
season began every year, they believed their sun god was leaving them. It was
on December 25th that they noticed the gradual return of the sun god. So they
called this day the birth of the sun. Tammuz was hailed as the son of the sun.
He was idolized and even worshipped and the first letter of his name became the
symbol of sun worship. Human sacrifices to the sun god were offered on this
initial letter made of wood, known as the cross “T” and this “T” for Tammuz is
also the true origin of Catholics crossing themselves. His birthday of December
25 was honored more and more. Satan worked many years before the conception and
birth of the true Messiah to counterfeit through sun worship His miraculous
conception and birth. Satan succeeded many times in leading God's people into
sin and pagan sun worship.
The true date of
the birth of Christ is most likely between July and September but since the
exact date of Christ's birthday was unknown, it was suggested, “Why not call it
the same date as the birth of Tammuz, which was December 25?” This was the time when the sun had reached its
lowest point on the horizon and started back up into the heavens and so the sun
god had come to life, so to speak. So gradually December 25 came to be known as
the birthday of Christ. The Papal
Church finally instituted
a special mass on that day, “Christ's Mass,”
and so December 25 became “Christmas.”
The yule log burning in the fire followed by the green tree lit with candles
all came from the pagan worship representing Nimrod being dead, while his
spirit still lived on in the sun and was alive again in Tammuz his son.
Jesus was
crucified and resurrected in the spring of the year near the time of the moon
festival. The devil was at work once again to bring the idea of having a
celebration at the same time as the heathen but calling it “in honor of the
resurrection.” And
in regards to the worship of the moon goddess Semiramis, the so called queen of
heaven. The cakes to the QUEEN OF HEAVEN were round and on them was cut a cross
in honor of the sun god, and they were offered to the queen of heaven and today
we call them “hot cross buns.”
(Read Jeremiah 7:16-18). The forty days of “weeping for Tammuz” became Lent and at the close of Lent came
Easter Sunday. The prophet Ezekiel was shown even greater abominations. (Read Ezekiel 8:12-18). This goddess Ishtar
(Easter) came to be known as the goddess of springtime as in “new life,” or as history records it, the “goddess of
reproduction.” The
pagans would go to some mountain side early Sunday morning and worship this
goddess as the sun was rising in the east. They gave themselves to immorality
and indecency of every description. The eggs and rabbits were used as symbols
of fertility and germination and hence “new life.” It all came into the Church gradually and was all blessed by the
Catholic Church and given to the world. And some people wonder why God calls
the Catholic Church Babylon!
“The use of
temples, and these dedicated to particular saints, and ornamented on occasions
with branches of trees; incense, lamps, and candles; votive offerings on
recovery from illness; holy water; asylums; holydays and seasons, use of
calendars, processions, blessings on the fields; sacerdotal vestments, the
tonsure, the ring in marriage, turning to the East, images at a later date,
perhaps the ecclesiastical chant, and the Kyrie Eleison are all of pagan
origin, and sanctified by their adoption into the Church.” — An Essay on The Development of the Christian
Doctrine John Henry “Cardinal Newman” p.373.
“It has often been
charged… that Catholicism is overlaid with many pagan incrustations.
Catholicism is ready to accept that accusation and even to make it her boast…
the great god Pan is not really dead, he is baptized” — The Story of Catholicism p 37.
As
time elapsed, stories spread worldwide about Semiramis and Nimrod as Baal
worship was everywhere. (The above information on the beginning of Satan's
church and its unscriptural practices is found in The Two Babylons, by Rev.
Alexander Hislop) In his book he has composed a list of names adopted in other
parts of the world that can be traced back to Semiramis and Nimrod in one way
or another. The list of names are as follows:
SEMIRAMIS
or Ashtarte
|
NIMROD
or Baal the sun god
|
Cybele (Goddess
Mother) Asia
|
Deoius (Asia)
|
Fortuna (Pagan Rome)
|
The Boy Jupiter (Pagan
Rome)
|
Isis (The Queen of Heaven)
Egypt
|
Osiris or Horus (Egypt)
|
Isi (Goddess Mother) India
|
Iswara (India)
|
Venus (Rome)
|
Cupid (Rome)
|
Ashterath (Phoenicia)
|
Tammuz (Phoenicia)
|
Aphrodite (Greece)
|
Eros (Greece)
|
Irene (Goddess of
Peace) Greece
|
The Boy Plutus (Greece)
|
Ishtar (Babylon)
|
The Winged One (Babylon)
|
Rhea (Mother of Gods)
|
Orion (Constellation)
|
Diana (Ephesian)
|
Bacchus (God of Party
going) of Ancient Greece
|
Shing Moo (Holy Mother
of China)
|
The Centaur (Greece)
|
Satan pulled it
off well as he had the whole world trapped into some form of Baal worship. The
entire world had lapsed into polytheism (worship of many gods or idols).
Mankind no longer desired to serve the true and living God and to accept His
scriptural plan of salvation. (Romans 1:18-32).
Around 2000 BC in
Abraham's day, Baal worship and its pagan rites had so permeated the human race
that God called Abraham out from it to be the progenitor of a nation of people
(the Israelites or Jews) who would be instructed by God through Moses and the
prophets to be a shining light and an example of godliness to the heathen
nations and reveal to them God's scriptural plan of salvation (Genesis
11:26-12: 1-5; Exodus 19:5-6; Hebrews 11:8).
The Jews were
greatly blessed by God as His chosen people, who were to serve as His
representatives of godliness to those heathen nations who had become entrapped
by paganism, to evangelize those godless nations and to show them God's love.
The Jews were repeatedly told that if they were to sin by serving other gods,
to depart from the Lord and fail God in their mission as His representatives to
those nations trapped in Baal worship, the Jews would suffer terribly at the
hand of God and be dispersed into all the nations of the earth. (See
Deuteronomy 4:1-40; 6:14-18; 7:6-26; 8:6-20; 10:12-20; 11:1-28; 12:28-32;
29:16-29; 30:11-20).
Before his death,
Moses foretold that after his death the Jews would disobey and turn to other
“gods” to worship and serve them (Deuteronomy 31:27, 29; 32:16-29). After
Moses' death, Joshua took command and led the children of Israel across the River Jordan into Palestine. The Jews were
ordered to exterminate the Canaanites of the land because they were so wicked
and so deeply involved in the evil practices of Baal worship, and to take the
land as their dwelling to be used for the glory of God in leading the ungodly
nations to God and His plan of redemption. The Jews took the land and
exterminated some of the inhabitants of the land but not all. The Jews here had
already begun to disobey God. They soon became weary in their conquests of Palestine and stopped
fighting. Soon afterwards the Israelites departed from their worship of the
Lord and started to worship and serve other gods as Moses had predicted. The
Jews soon became so involved in Baal worship and its pagan practices that some
of them even sacrificed their children to Satan.
Because of their
disobedience to God's command to be faithful in their worship of and service to
the true and living God, the Jews would have to suffer. On many occasions God
allowed the children of Israel
to be captured by their enemies and to be persecuted. When the Jews cried out
to God in sorrow for their sins, the Lord delivered them. The Lord raised up
Judges to secure their deliverances. After each time the Lord brought about the
deliverance of the captured, suffering children of Israel, the Jews would plunge back
into sin and Baal worship. As time passed the Jews became even more involved in
pagan worship in spite of God's warnings and chastisements. God raised up
prophets to warn the Israelites to repent or suffer more. Prophet after prophet
was raised up for that purpose and many of them were executed by the Jews. In
722 BC the ten Northern tribes were captured by the Assyrians and scattered
never to return, and in 586 BC the Babylonians captured Judah and Jerusalem.
This was the third time Babylon
came up against them but this time brought about their total destruction as
everything was torn down. After the Babylonian captivity in 539 BC at which
time Babylon had fallen to the Persians, the
Persians granted the Jews in Babylon permission
to return to Jerusalem.
Many Jews did
return to Palestine
during the years 539 BC, 457 BC and 445 BC. Others doubtless returned between
those years and after 445 BC. See also Daniels 70 weeks
and prophecy of weeks. In 70 AD the Romans
under General Titus captured Jerusalem
and persecuted the Jews. The Jews final dispersion took place at this time.
After 70 AD, the Jews had been dispersed into all the nations of the world to
suffer. Nearly all nations who had received Jews eventually turned on them and
persecuted them. The Jews have been the most hated and persecuted people in
history and have suffered more than any other people. They disobeyed God and
they had to suffer as God said they would.
When the Roman Empire was in power during the earthly life of
Jesus and during the early Church period, the Roman Caesars were to be
worshipped as gods. The early Christians were persecuted by the Romans because
they would not bow down to the pagan Caesars. Satan directed this persecution
of the early believers in an effort to stamp out Christianity. But instead of
wiping out Christianity, persecution resulted in its growth! As more Christians
were put to death, more and more Christians rose up to replace them. Satan saw
that his directed persecution of the early believers would not obliterate
Christianity so he moved to attack the Church from within instead of from
without.
Satan devised a
plan by which he would lay the foundation for and establish his own counterfeit
church. Under Satan's direction paganism would get a new face. Satan would
introduce to the world his own version of a “Christian Church.” As was
indicated earlier, the Caesars were worshipped as gods. As the Roman Empire was near disintegration, the pagan Caesars
did not want to lose their power in controlling the world, so they decided on a
plan by which to keep their power and influence in the world. The Roman Caesars
simply exchanged their Roman togas for religious costumes. Thus they could
control the world's governments and their economies through religion.
After Constantine defeated Maxentius in 312 AD in a battle for
the throne of Rome,
Satan continued in his clever plan to build his own version of a “Christian
Church.” After his ascension to the Roman Throne, Constantine issued his Edict of Toleration in
313 AD to stop the persecution of the true believers in Christ. Under Constantine the Christian
Church for a time found relief from persecution. Satan had now temporarily
stopped his persecution of the Christian Church from without, but he would now
proceed to attack the Church from within. Since John said that antichrist came
from the Church, one might ask who is the antichrist today?
Under Satan's direction, Constantine set up the “Council of Nicaea”
and presided as “Summus Pontifex”, the official title of a Pope. Constantine's job was to
mix paganism with a perverted form of Christianity to make his new religious
organization look respectable. This mixture of paganism with some of the
teaching of Christ was Satan's version of a “Christian Church.”
The beginning of Nimrod's evil plan had its
origin at Babel which was later known as Babylon. This city of Babylon with a tower “whose top may reach
unto heaven” was built by Nimrod
(Genesis 10:8-10; 11:4). called the tower “Babel, the gate to
heaven,” but God called
it what it was which was, “Babel, confusion,” for there God confused the language of the
people which forced them to scatter. This heaven defying group of people wanted
one government to rule the world and one religion to sway the hearts of
mankind. This was Satan's attempt to defy God and His authority and the ring
leader of his scheme was Nimrod. But God came down and stopped this world wide
rebellion at Babel,
in defiance of His command for mankind to replenish the earth (Genesis 9:1) by confusing their language
into many languages so they could not understand one another's speech. Mankind
discontinued the building of Babel
and were scattered to different parts of the world (Genesis 11:8-9).
